Moral Metaphors A solid moral vocabulary would seem essential to sound moral judgement and action. Yet we are signally lacking in that regard. Our language doesn’t aid the cause of morality. Can it be revised and improved? Are we conceptually lacking in our moral attitudes? These are important questions, especially in a time of moral…moral […]
Colin: Love the piece. We resonate. MUCH busier now than ever before, even when I was running an investment banking firm with 400 employees. Our one fundamental difference is that while table tennis is but one of your many non-philosophy endeavors, it dominates mine – 3 coaching sessions per week, 2 hours per coaching session […]
Rebirth The OED defines “retirement” as “the period of one’s life after retiring from work”. But what is work? That is defined as “activity involving mental or physical effort in order to achieve a result” and “such activity as a means of earning income”. These are very different ideas; confusing them leads to misconceptions about […]
Hi Colin, FYI on a Chinese edition (!) of Minds and Bodies. Best Peter From: Emma Gier <emma.gier@oup.com> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2025 4:56 AM To: Peter Ohlin <Peter.Ohlin@oup.com> Cc: Alastair Lewis <Alastair.Lewis@oup.com>; Cara McMeekan <Cara.Mcmeekan@oup.com>; Georgina Hoare <Georgina.Hoare@oup.com>; James Sykes <James.Sykes@oup.com>; Jenny Child <Jenny.Child@oup.com>; Junan Collins <Junan.Collins@oup.com>; Sophie Goldsworthy <sophie.goldsworthy@oup.com>; Tasmin Dodson <Tasmin.Dodson@oup.com>; Jacqueline […]
Epistemological Origins What causes human (and animal) knowledge? Is it nature or God? The classical empiricists thought it was nature acting on the senses (for most knowledge anyway) not God. The classic rationalists thought it was God acting miraculously on the soul (for some knowledge anyway) not nature. Either nature implants the knowledge via experience […]
Empiricism Refashioned Historically, we can distinguish three theories of the origin of knowledge: empiricism, rationalism, and revelationism (as it may be called). The first locates the origin of knowledge in conscious sense experience, particularly vision; the second accords a significant role to innate endowment (instinct, genetics); the third regards true knowledge as emanating from an […]
Aspects of the A Priori It is now fifty years since I first tried to define a priori knowledge. I wrote a long paper on the subject in 1975 that was abbreviated to appear in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society in 1976 (“A Priori and A PosterioriKnowledge”). The basic idea was that a posteriori […]
Subject: First Set of Questions & Notes on the Interview Project Dear Professor McGinn, First of all, I want to sincerely thank you once again for giving me this opportunity. It truly means a great deal to me, and I consider it a rare honor. As I mentioned before, the interview I am preparing will […]
Aesthetic Tennis As Wimbledon builds towards its climax, the question on everyone’s mind is “Who is the most aesthetic player in the world?” We all have our views, some more informed and sensitive than others. I will wade into these shark-infested waters, in which one’s credibility is totally on the line. Like, totally. I think […]
Dear Professor McGinn, My name is Ehsan Ahrari, a sociologist and writer based in Iran. Over the past years, I have been engaged in a series of grassroots conversations under the banner of Sociology of the Everyday, where we explore ordinary life through a philosophical and ethical lens—often without institutional scaffolding, but with deep intellectual urgency. […]