Why Richard Dawkins Fails to Appreciate Plato

The other day, Richard Dawkins had a go at Plato:

Surprised by common reverence for Plato. Alexandrians like Eratosthenes made superb progress. But what did Plato say that was actually right? And didn’t he mislead generations of theologians & philosophers into thinking you could find truth by making stuff up in an armchair?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) December 16, 2019

It’s not the first time. Dawkins has a thing for picking on Plato. He said this back in March:

Philosophy is “a series of footnotes to Plato” (Whitehead)

Plato “thought of vision as due not to light entering but rather to particles shooting out of the eyes” (R Gregory, Eye & Brain)

Why didn’t he settle it with a simple experiment? Because experiments aren’t philosophy?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) March 6, 2019

Continue reading “Why Richard Dawkins Fails to Appreciate Plato” →

Plato and the Frankfurt School

These days I get to supervise all of the history of political thought courses at Cambridge. It keeps me busy during term time, but it helps me think about things. The other day I was doing a supervision on the Greeks, when something clicked for me. I think Plato and the Frankfurt School have something important in common.

Continue reading “Plato and the Frankfurt School” →

I’m a Political Theorist, and I Hate the “Equality”/”Equity” Chart

Have you seen it? There’s this chart that goes around and around the internet, with three people of different heights attempting to watch a baseball game. I hate it so much, but I suppose I have to show it to you, in case you’re not familiar:

Continue reading “I’m a Political Theorist, and I Hate the “Equality”/”Equity” Chart” →

Pete Buttigieg is Neither Policy Wonk Nor Philosopher

As folks begin to notice that Pete Buttigieg doesn’t have a developed policy vision, he has tried to fight back by throwing together a series of short paragraphs on the “issues” section of his website. Here, for instance, are the two paragraphs on healthcare:

Continue reading “Pete Buttigieg is Neither Policy Wonk Nor Philosopher” →

The Left Can’t Even Agree on What Politics Is

In helping my undergrads prepare for their exams the last few weeks, I’ve noticed something–one of the major obstacles to successful left-wing organising is the left’s inability to agree on what politics itself is. Different political theorists understand “politics” differently. You can broadly divide conceptions of the political into two realms. Some people think politics is about pursuing the truth and the good, and other people think that politics is about managing disagreement about the truth and the good. Then within those camps you can make further divisions on the basis of what strategy people prefer to use to pursue the good or manage disagreement. Here, let me chart this out for you:

Continue reading “The Left Can’t Even Agree on What Politics Is” →