Blog articles from the Mindset section of The Big Idea

Metaphysics

The Big Idea > Mindset > Metaphysics

A new bottom line

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— and a glimmer of hope. By Colin Tudge Keir Starmer promises change – but the change he is promising is of a very limited kind. Whatever form it takes it will be within the present “neoliberal” economic paradigm: an all-against-all competition with the world at large to increase material wealth, known as “growth”. Within … Read more

Life is a master class in cooperativeness

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Competition, beyond doubt, is a fact of life. But, says Colin Tudge, the essence of life is cooperation  It almost goes without saying that individuals gain from living in societies, and that all creatures depend to a greater or lesser extent on others of their own kind. Children need their parents. Vultures scavenge more effectively … Read more

The biology of compassion: work in progress

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Colin Tudge introduces a new series of blogs on whether and to what extent the insights of modern biology can throw light on matters of morality, and hence on politics and economics  In a nutshell, I want to argue that humanity has been led astray these past few thousand years, and particularly over the last … Read more

GUEST EDITORIAL by Professor Tim Gorringe: The Christian attitude to nature

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Christian theologian Tim Gorringe argues that “To trash or seek to dominate this Creation is not simply unethical but is ‘the most horrid blasphemy’” In his recent blog “Fellow Creatures” Colin Tudge suggests that the traditional Christian attitude to the natural world is inadequate, not to say flawed. Christians, he says, take their lead from … Read more

Bring back metaphysics, or: The art of the unknowable

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The “ultimate questions”  Metaphysics asks what many have called “the ultimate questions” – which sounds pretty impressive, and is. But although these metaphysical questions are clearly so important and ever-present, and indeed are at the root and at the heart of all bona fide religions, metaphysics as an independent discipline has largely gone missing. And … Read more