Essays
Exploratory CW essay pieces look at the broader trends in contemporary society, politics and culture.
A selection of the Battle of Ideas’ Battles in Print is also available here.
Head to head on space exploration: ‘man not machine should explore space’
A Battles in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008Two students from Barton Court Grammar School in an email head-to-head on whether man or machine should be exploring space in the twenty first century
Can philosophy change your life?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008An adequate approach to the relationship between theory and practice would acknowledge the value of the many kinds of intellectual contributions that get called popular philosophy, without over-egging their importance or dismissing them as philosophy lite.
Forensic Interventions into Mourning: Remembering the Unnamed Dead
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008By emphasising the recovery and naming of bodies, what becomes of the unnamed dead? Who takes responsibility for those whose remains will not only never be recovered and identified but will never be missed? Does the emphasis placed upon ‘our’ dead by forensic science dilute or obstruct sympathy for the death of ‘others’?
Identity politics: undermining democracy?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008The growth of identity politics means that instead of the universal claim for negative liberty, all minority groups are now encouraged to fight their corner for their piece of the recognition pie. In one fell swoop, such policies not only fix people into categories which are themselves restrictive, but also isolate groups from wider society.
Attitudes to China
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008A recent survey suggests the Western public may be less worried about the rise of China than the ‘China-bashing’ media suggest, and more optimistic about its future development.
Boozy Britain?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008Counter-intuitively, in a world of often disconnected and atomised individuals, alcohol can play a part in bringing communities back together again.
What next for the EU?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008Disenchantment with the elitism of European politicians and institutions may lay the basis for a more positive reassertion of popular control over political decision-making at the national level. This would mean recognising that the problems of European integration are only magnifications of problems whose origins lie at home.
Won’t read, can’t read, don’t read?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008We need to be less concerned about when is the right age for children to start reading, and how, and much more worried about what counts as being great literature, in having real standards that children can aim at.
The End of Left and Right?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008The end of Left and Right, if it has occurred, needs to be taken seriously. It amounts to no less than the collapse of a way of looking at, and doing, ‘politics’.
The domestic limits to American international leadership after Bush
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008What both Republicans and Democrats fail to grasp is that international legitimacy of the kind that caused the West to accept American leadership after World War Two must derive, ultimately, from domestic politics. International legitimacy cannot be restored solely through actions in the international sphere.
The ‘Regeneration Games’, London, 2012
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008Professor James Woudhuysen argues that an Olympics ‘Win/Win’ won’t work
Snow in Istanbul
Photoessay impression: Istanbul, and Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Faber)Once people internalise the ideology of passivity and infectiveness, they cease to be able to understand themselves as properly political subjects.
Communist kitsch without conviction
Photoessay: a visit to Memento Park, Budapest, HungaryIs a work of art that forges its content out of the everyday, and shows its epic potential, not infinitely preferable to fantasy tales from Middle Earth?
What does music mean?
A Battle in Print essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008Despite using no words, instrumental music speaks volumes. A simple jig makes people dance in delight and a melancholy melody reduces people to tears; union songs, hymns, football chants and even the national anthem bring people together with shared values, ideas and aims; and everybody has their own special songs.
Surviving New Labour as an artist
Artistic independence and the pitfalls of state fundingIt may be harder to make great art in a society where nervous, mistrustful governments encourage intolerance and self-censorship. But it is certainly still possible to make good art and to do it without special help.
