What is real?
Mind Vs Matter There are two sides to reality, the objective side of atoms, molecules, rocks, trees, people, places and events vs the subjective experience of the mind. Matter and Continue Reading
Happy Hedonism.
Like most young men, I used to like to go out and get drunk with friends after a hard week’s toil in my dead-end job. Drinking doesn’t suit me, it’s Continue Reading
Mind, and art imitating nature
(Continuing from The Natural Aesthetic – Nature crafts its own art) Landscape aesthetics This brilliant painting by Ivan Shishkin (25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898), called ‘morning Continue Reading
Are you Evil?
I’ve thought long and hard on this for a very long time, years, in fact, ploughing my way through the moral maze of intent, unintended consequence and much, much more Continue Reading
Fritz Haber, A lesson in Karma
Fritz Haber (born 1868), was a Polish Jew, who received a Nobel prize in Chemistry for his invention of the Haber-Bosch process (a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia Continue Reading
Welcome the Peace
For over five years now I’ve been a meditation practitioner since I started back in late 2014, and never once looked back. I can only speak for myself in describing Continue Reading
The world as metanarrative
Pictured as the featured image of this article is French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924—1998) who famously defined postmodernism in one short sound bite: “simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism Continue Reading
Philosophy at a funeral; a lived experience…
News of death Last year my maternal grandmother passed away, she was in her eighties. Some background is in order: my grandmother was taken ill to hospital and was eight Continue Reading
Stoic deconstructionism – looking at the way things are
There is a passage in Book 6 of Marcus Aurelius’ meditations, which I found outlined an interesting method. Marcus wrote of a perspective that deconstructs the appearance of things, more of Continue Reading
Minimalist tip for the modern Stoic – Hard drives
Just to start off Stoicism is not asceticism like the Cynic school is, instead it’s a middle way philosophy; not going to the extremes of pleasure nor asceticism. The Stoic Continue Reading
Selected Ajahn Chah Quotes
Nine wise quotes by Buddhist scholar Ajahn Chah, we hope they give you inspiration! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Continue Reading
The real cause of death
I’m a middle-aged man who is also quite cynical, that’s why I was disgusted to recently see a TV advertisement by a cancer care charity that focused heavily on the Continue Reading
Seneca’s Mindfulness
During his exile in Corsica, Seneca wrote to his mother Helvia whom he told his worrying mother all was well, all this can be found in Seneca’s consolations by the Continue Reading
Happiness and the void…
At the Stand-up Philosophers, we advocate that Nihilists should be happy because many are not. Indeed there’s a long literary tradition of miserable nihilists depressing everyone by telling them that Continue Reading
Doing a Chrysippus
The Greek Stoic philosopher Chrysippus (279 – c. 206 BC) was a major figure in Stoicism, he was head of that school and was reputed to be a prolific Continue Reading
A problem for the body…
Something that often comes up in our conversations here at the Standup Philosophers is the subject of bodily aches and pains, illness and disease and their effects upon the peace Continue Reading
Getting out of your own way…
For most of my life, I’ve felt like I was drowning, feverishly thrashing under the water scrambling my way to the surface which is forever out of reach. No matter Continue Reading
The Pernicious Rise of Anti Natalist Philosophy
Have you ever thought that the planet might be better off without humanity? If so then you’ve been anti-natalist which is a philosophical position that assigns a negative value to Continue Reading