I do a bit of this. Can’t help it for some reason. I even have a BSc in Philosophy (and Computer Science). Some philosophizing makes it onto this blog. Often it’s mixed in with other things. In general, I like to think about stuff. I even think about thinking. They call that “Philosophy of Mind”, or in a more cross-disciplinary field that I did my post-grad in, “Cognitive Science”.

I didn’t do any moral or political philosophy at university, but somehow I seem to be ever more interested in that sort of thing of late. My views in this area tend to be what I call  Technoprogressive, and I’d like to believe they might eventually catch on.

Of course, I’m not actually a big believer in the power of ‘belief’. I feel it all too often gets in the way of arguably more righteous quests for something approaching ‘the truth’. But if I believe in anything then it’s in the principles behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in what Bertrand Russell called his “Liberal Decalogue”:

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

- from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 3: 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.

I’m also a big fan of Daniel Dennett, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and believe it or not I think my favourite philosopher is a science fiction author, a certain Mr Iain M Banks. I will eventually get around to blogging my interpretation of his latest “Surface Detail” as a bit of a battle between Deontology and Utilitarianism, but arguably I have more important things to do right now.