Leo Hornak
Nick Griffin: part of the western philosophical tradition?
In this month’s Prospect podcast (downloadable, and available on the right of this page) Nigel Warburton considers the links between racism, philosophy and the history of prejudice that underlies much of the western philosophical tradition. As he points out, the belief that racism is usually the result of stupidity is itself a form of prejudice. Some the world’s great thinkers have themselves been guilty of surprising bigotry.
Acknowledging that prejudice can co-exist with intelligence is important in other ways. It could be argued that the BNP’s recent electoral success is partly the result of complacency on the part of mainstream political parties: far-right groups were assumed to be too politically incompetent to ever pose a genuine political threat. The British government’s failure to take Islamist radicalism seriously in the 1990s stemmed from a similar complacency: militant groups were simply not seen as a genuine threat.
Perhaps the only way to confront prejudice effectively is to acknowledge that it sometimes goes hand in hand with intelligence, cunning and even philosophy.
As ever, let us know your thoughts below-
Leo Hornak
Erno Goldfinger's Trellick Tower in West London
Prince Charles’ planned contribution to a debate at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has a caused a predictable stir this week. A number of the institute’s prominent members are planning to boycott the event in protest at the Prince’s ‘undemocratic’ meddling in the progress of British architecture.
The battlelines are well established in this dispute: on one side the vast majority of architects , schooled to varying degrees in the aesthetics of modernism, post-modernism or post-post-modernism, and on the other the heir to the throne pleading the case for ‘elegance’ and a vague, hazily imagined sense of tradition.
As our resident philosopher and podcaster Nigel Warburton points out on his blog, the same debate blighted the career of Erno Goldfinger (creator of the majestic Trellick Tower, above) in the 1950s. Ian Fleming hated Goldfinger’s work so much he immortalised him as James Bond’s arch villain.
According to Warburton, the ‘Prince Charles fallacy’ is ‘the misguided notion that the only buildings that should be allowed to be built are those that look more less like the buildings that are already in the area’ - that buildings should be designed not according to their use, but according to the appearance of nearby buildings.
Is the heir to the throne right to still be campaigning against ‘modern’ architecture? Or are architects themselves on weak ground when they appeal against ‘intervening in the democratic process of planning applications’? Shouldn’t this debate have moved a little further on in the last 25 years?
Let us know your views in the comments below- and take a listen to Nigel’s latest podcast on the virtue of thrift in politics (also downloadable on itunes and at the right of this screen).
Leo Hornak
Is it too late for thrift?
In this month’s Prospect podcast (also available on the right of this page), our resident philosopher Nigel Warburton examines the ambiguous role of thrift in defining the good life. As Warburton argues, the idea of thrift “hangs awkwardly between profligacy and miserliness,” making it one of the few virtues best practiced in moderation.
Distinguishing an appropriate levels of thrift is something our society still struggles with. In our handling of the environment and use of natural resources, we have surely been guilty of profligacy. At the same time, our treatment of the most vulnerable is often miserly in the extreme.
As we attempt to recover from an era of economic extravagance, is an instinct for thrift something we now need to cultivate? Or is it already too late: is our only hope now to spend our way out of recession?
You can subscribe to the podcast by clicking on the RSS link on the right of this page, or via itunes. As ever, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Leo Hornak
Open with care (image courtesy of Alan Chao at flickr)
In this month’s Prospect podcast, our resident philosopher Nigel Warburton considers the idea that ‘the gift is never free’.
Warburton’s focus is on the meaning of gifts and gift-giving in international politics and diplomacy, but the idea is no less valid on a smaller scale. This morning, anti-capitalism protesters handed out free copies of their spoof version of the Financial Times as a ‘gift’ to city workers at Waterloo Station.
Like the gifts that Warburton describes, this is the kind of free gift that ultimately demands a much larger payment from the recipient. In this case, an acknowledgement of the banking sector’s culpability in our current financial crisis. Which could prove very costly indeed.
You can subscribe to the podcast by RSS feed (on the right hand side of this page), or via Itunes.
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