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The Philosophers’
Magazine
21 Parkhurst Road London, N22 8JQ United Kingdom Tel: 020 8889 7041 Fax: 0870 125 3783 editor@philosophers.co.uk www.philosophers.co.uk
Philosophers’ The
Magazine issue sixteen • autumn 2001
Editor Julian Baggini
Editor, New Media
Jeremy Stangroom
Contributing Editors Susan Dwyer, Simon Eassom, Peter Fosl, Michael LaBossiere, Jeff Mason, Christian
Perring
Events Directory Co-ordinator
Mitch Hodge
Subscriptions UK: 01442 879097 North America: 1-800 444 2419 ext.1
See page 10 for full details contents
News and Features 6 NEWS HOUND Academics and religious schools under fire, Oak felled and more
COVER STORY: SILICON SOCETY
9 MEDIA WATCH Philosophy and philosophers in the mass media
Contributors Christopher Budd, Roger Caldwell, Peter Cave, Joseph Chandler, David Cooper, Steve Deery, Jonathan Derbyshire, Simon Eassom, Luciano Floridi, Wendy Grossman, Azzedine Haddour, Mitch Hodge, Christina Howells, Mathew Iredale, Roy A Jackson, Sue Johnson, Tim LeBon, Lisa Kemmerer, Lyn May, Mary Midgley, Niccolo Milanese, Christopher Norris, Lewis Owens, Christian Perring, Matthew Ray, David Snelling, Ursula Tidd, Roger Trigg, Alex Voorhoeve, Karen J Warren, William Wilcox
Illustrations Felix Bennett (cover), Shaun Williams
Graphics Jerry Bird, Pipo de Bressana
With Thanks to Jonathan Derbyshire, Susannah Gill, Lori Fells, Steve Palmquist, Bernard Stangroom, Pam Swope, Jonathan Webber
Distribution by (UK) Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN Tel: 020 8986 4854 (North America) Ingram Periodicals Inc., 1240 Heil Quaker Blvd., La Vergne, TN 37086-7000 Tel: (615) 793 5522 (North America) Ubiquity Distributors Inc., 607 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 Tel: (718) 875 5491
Printed by Warwick Printing, Theatre Street, Warwick
Contributors Notes Prospective contributors should contact the editor for further information or to submit ideas. Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts.
© 2001, The Philosophers’ Magazine
11 TOP OF THE FORMS Joseph Chandler The top ten philosophy classics revealed
LucianoFloridi,p18 Conferencebriefing,p31
13 THE HISTORY MAN Julian Baggini An interview with journalist turned historian of philosophy, Anthony Gottlieb Essays 15 PHILOSOPHY MATTERS Roger Trigg Why a scientistic society needs metaphysics
18 THE INFOSPHERE Luciano Floridi Do we need a new information ethics to bridge the digital divide?
20 IN PRAISE OF PUTNAM Christopher Norris What we can learn from the open-minded nature of Putnam’s progress Discussion 23 OPEN DEBATE: WICKEDNESS Mary Midgley Midgley responds to three objections to her essay sent in by TPM readers
27 DISCOURSE: RUSSELL’S POLITICS Jonathan Derbyshire Nicholas Griffin and Alan Ryan debate Russell’s controversial political years
29 INTERVIEW: TOM SCANLON Alex Voorhoeve Scanlon explains why his moral philosophy is “Kant on the cheap”
All views expressed in The Philosophers’ Magazine represent those of the authors of each article and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers.
ThePhilosophers’Magazine/Autumn 2001
ISSN 1354-814X
