Philosophy in the City

An informal round-up of philosophical things we thought you might find interesting. Links, blogs, articles, and more…

Scientists at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy reported last week at CERN that they appeared to have measured neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light, in conflict with Einstein’s theory of special relativity.  News reports of this experiment raise the question of the apparent paradoxes that would arise from the possibility of backwards time travel.  Whether or not backwards time travel is a genuine physical possibility, Liverpool philosopher Philip Goff argues here that it does not present any logical problem, despite apparent paradoxes.

Let’s think about happiness… On November 15th the Government proposed to measure happiness in their next household survey. But what is happiness, and can it be measured? Read Clare Carlisle’s piece on this in The Guardian.

Read the latest Guardian articles by Liverpool philosopher Michael McGhee. Michael McGhee is the author of Transformations of Mind, and most of his work focuses on art, religion and spirituality….

….And then see what his colleague Stephen Clark had to say in response! Professor Clark disagrees with Dr. McGhee’s ideas about religious belief. Stephen Clark has written numerous books, many of which have been translated into several languages. His work will soon be celebrated at the Department of Philosophy’s conference in his honour, entitled Other Ways of Seeing.

Check out University of Liverpool philosopher Clare Carlisle’s blog series for The Guardian on ‘Kierkegaard’s World’. You can also listen to Clare discussing Kierkegaard on Radio 4′s In Our Time, and at philosophybites – just click on these links.

Clare is the author of Kierkegaard: A Guide for the Perplexed, and Kierkegaard’s ‘Fear and Trembling’: A Reader’s Guide. She also organised the Philosophy in the City festival that took place in Liverpool in October 2010.