h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Greetings....

I would like to suggest a project for the department of philosophy.

I think that anyone who wants to know incredibly detailed stuff about philosophy and philosophers is not going to use the H2G2 as a resource - there are text books, other web sites, and dictionaries of philosophy that do that job far better. What I would like to suggest is a project entitled:

"Philosophy: the Interesting Bits"

Covering, well, the interesting bits of philosophy.

Entries might include:

The Problem of Evidence. Or, why science isn't all it's cracked up to be.
What DOES happen when a tree falls down in a wood and there's no-one there to hear it?
Killing one to save many: John Harris and the Survival Lottery.
What God's really up to: The Philosophy of Religion.


and so on and so on....

I obviously can't take on all this myself, and I'm also particularly busy at the moment. Anyone fancy contributing?

To give you an idea of the kind of writing I have in mind, please see my "How to be a Philosopher" http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A617843

Best wishes

Otto

Hi Otto,

Good idea for a project, and one that I'd especially like to see appear.

If you can flesh out the specific pages you want to write, and attract some other authors, I'll put you up in the Philosophy Department.

Just post again when you're ready to start.

Hi there Otto,

Found my way here eventually..
idea
I'm an ex-philosophy student of 6 years standing- you can see my faves on my home page- and I've got lots of interesting stuff to download from the old brain, so count me in!
not sure where to go from here, though..

Greetings....

Apologies for absence for a week or so - new job and thesis chapter deadline.

Anyway, "Philosophy: The Interesting Bits"

Basically, informative, accessible and amusing writing about philosophy and philosophical problems.

Rather than having it as a single entry, would it be possible to have a hub with links to all the member entries, rather like Lear's "Philosophy on the Guide" entry?

What would everyone like to write about? Are there any entries already written that we could co-opt into the project?

I think I've already posted a few ideas about what kind of things we ought to include, but I think it's very much a case of what each of us knows enough to write about in an interesting manner.

If you want to write something, could you post here that you're doing it, and then post again with a link when it's done? This means we can selectively peer review what we're doing, and don't end up covering the same ground. Also, please feel free to invite any other philosophers you know on the guide to join the project.

I'm going to write something about John Harris and the Survival Lottery, which I think is extremely interesting!


Best wishes


Otto.

Hi Otto, thanks for the message. This sounds like it could be an interesting project. I'd like to find some way of helping out, although unfortunately I probably won't be able to spare the time at present to come up with any new material. However, there is an article I co-wrote with another researcher that might be of use here. It's basically about ethics in a post-Chrtistian era, as illustrated in the form of the 'Prisoner's Dilemma' problem. If you don't think it's suitable then obviously that's fair enough - your decision. If you like it but find it a little technical and abstruse for the general tone you're aiming for here, then I *might* (quite a big 'might', I'm afraid ) be able to find time to adapt it a little for this project. Anyway, take a look if you're interested - it's @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A509690

Take care,

Lear

Sign me up. I'm hitting the books again for my dissertation so I'm going to be living and breathing Existentialism until about January. If you need a contribution, I'll start penning something.

Clive

Did anything become of this?

<BB<

Don't think so, which is a shame as there were some decent ideas there.

I did write something for the Guide about John Rawls, though....

I spy Edited Entry:
A3136042 The Political Philosophy of John Rawls
(bookmark for later)

<BB<

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Sideways step to the Faculty of Philosophy, History and Spirituality.