World Congress of Philosophy

It looks like scientists and philosophers might have made consciousness far more mysterious than it needs to be. What is the best way to understand consciousness? In philosophy, centuries-old debates continue to rage over whether the Universe is divided, following René Descartes, into ‘mind stuff’ and ‘matter stuff’. But the rise of modern neuroscience has seen a more pragmatic approach gain ground: an approach that is guided by philosophy but doesn’t rely on philosophical research to provide the answers. Its key is to recognise that explaining why consciousness exists at all is not necessary in order to make progress in revealing its material basis – to start building explanatory bridges from the subjective and phenomenal to the objective and measurable. In my work at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex in Brighton, I collaborate with cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, brain imagers, virtual reality wizards and mathemat...

In  European antiquity, philosophers largely wrote in Greek. Even after the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean and the demise of paganism, philosophy was strongly associated with Hellenic culture. The leading thinkers of the Roman world, such as Cicero and Seneca, were steeped in Greek literature; Cicero even went to Athens to pay homage to the home of his philosophical heroes. Tellingly, the emperor Marcus Aurelius went so far as to write his Meditations in Greek. Cicero, and later Boethius, did attempt to initiate a philosophical tradition in Latin. But during the early Middle Ages, most of Greek thought was accessible in Latin only partially and indirectly. Elsewhere, the situation was better. In the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the Greek-speaking Byzantines could continue to read Plato and Aristotle in the original. And philosophers in the Islamic world enjoyed an extraordinary degree of access to the Hellenic intellectual heritage. In 10th-century Baghdad, rea...

Podría enunciar las experiencias más tristes de mi existencia. Diría la amé, se fue, lloré. Y aún así no los conmoveré como lo harán estos grandes escritores. En lugar de mal escribir un remedo de quebranto citaré un fragmento del cuento ‘Tan triste como ella’ de Juan Carlos Onetti, escritor uruguayo de amplio corazón. Después dejaré que el oleaje oscuro inunde sus corazones con las 25 frases más tristes de la literatura. “Querida tan triste: Comprendo, a pesar de ligaduras indecibles e innumerables, que llegó el momento de agradecernos la intimidad de los últimos meses y decirnos adiós. Todas las ventajas serán tuyas. Creo que nunca nos entendimos de veras; acepto mi culpa, la responsabilidad y el fracaso. Intento excusarme –sólo para nosotros, claro– invocando la dificultad que impone navegar entre dos aguas durante X páginas. Acepto también, como merecidos, los momentos dichosos. En todo caso, perdón. Nunca miré de frente tu cara, nunca te mostré la mía”. “Había cont...

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The return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum so they might be displayed in their original location “would be the best choice,” the director of the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City, Dr. Shan Jixiang, said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) General Director Michalis Psilos on Saturday. “All nations with ancient civilizations share the same desire: that scattered cultural heritage should return home,” Dr. Shan said. “The best choice, when an object has been preserved, is that it should appear in its original location. Its initial origins are the best home. I think that China, Greece and other countries with ancient civilizations must unite and join hands for the return of objects that have been taken from our countries,” he added. Dr. Shan said that he had visited Greece many times and observed Greek cultural affairs with great interest, including matters relating to the protection of cultural heritage and museum manageme...