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For the second time in TPM’s history events have caused us to change our plans, and once again it is bad news which is the culprit. Good news, it seems, just doesn’t tend to disrupt our lives in the same way that bad news does. Back in 2001, the events of 11 September led us to switch the theme of our forum to examine philosophy after the attacks on the twin towers. This time, it is the death of a great philosopher, John Rawls, that has precipitated a similar change of plans. Of course, the death of a philosopher is not in itself an exceptional event, as the all-too frequent obituaries on our news pages show. Why then devote an issue to remembering Rawls, and not, say, his Harvard colleague Robert Nozick, who also died last year and who some no doubt consider to be at least Rawls’s equal? Arguing about the relative greatness of our leading philosophers is not the way to answer this question. Time will be a better judge of that than the editorial team of The Philosophers’ Magazine. What is much less debatable is the influence and importance of Rawls’s work, not only in philosophy, but in political theory and even practice. As the articles in our forum on Rawls show (pp27-45), Rawls not only changed the course of political philosophy in the anglophone world, he also had an unparalleled influence beyond academia. That makes him a particularly suitable philosopher to honour in this magazine, which celebrates the interest the very best philosophy has to those both within and outside academia. Rawls was the prime example of a philosopher whose excellence met the highest standards of professional academics but whose arguments spoke to those far outside this group. Rawls proved that first-rate philosophy need not be impenetrable, scholastic or irrelevant. Philosophy needs to celebrate figures like Rawls, for there are those who believe that philosophy has lost its way and has become a self-perpetuating profession rather than an earnest enquiry after truth. Nicholas Maxwell, for example, argues in this issue that philosophers need to learn to love wisdom again, and that without a revolution in philosophy, the discipline faces annihilation. Our open debate essay is by Robert Ellis, whose own experiences writing a PhD in philosophy have left him convinced that academic constraints are stifling creativity. There are those who will say that such voices are Cassandras and that people will always complain about the current state of philosophy, just as they do the current state of the world, or the England football team. In an odd way, these sceptics could be both right and wrong. Simon Glendinning has argued that, in a sense, philosophy is in a perpetual state of crisis. The possibility that we have been led up a blind alley and that what we are doing is empty never leaves us. We can pretend it is not there, but it doesn’t go away. So while it may be true that people will always talk about philosophy losing its way, it may also be true that we always need to be questioning whether it has in fact lost its way. Philosophy is supposed to make no assumptions. If that is right, it cannot afford to assume it is even going in the right direction. Rawls is a source of hope on this score. Many credit him precisely with changing the flawed direction of political philosophy and putting it onto a better track. But he did this from within the academic tradition that was itself in some kind of crisis. Perhaps this shows how, even when academic philosophy is ailing, the tough intellectual training it provides and the high standards it upholds can help produce thinkers capable of curing the patient from within. As a general diagnosis, that may be too optimistic. But at least in the case of John Rawls, we can be thankful that the academic tradition really did produce something worthwhile and enduring. the philosophers’ magazine 98 Mulgrave Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 6LZ, United Kingdom Tel: 020 8643 1504 Fax: 0709 237 6412 editor@philosophers.co.uk www.philosophers.co.uk Editors Julian Baggini (print edition) Jeremy Stangroom (new media) News Editor Natasha Gilbert news@philosophers.co.uk Reviews Editor Jonathan Derbyshire reviews@philosophers.co.uk Contributing Editors Susan Dwyer, Simon Eassom, Peter Fosl, Michael LaBossiere, Jeff Mason, Christian Perring Graphics Jerry Bird, Michael LaBossiere Illustrations Felix Bennett (cover), Gareth Southwell, Shaun Williams Contributors Alison Ainley, Catherine Audard, Charles Booth, Steve Deery, Jonathan Derbyshire, Simon Eassom, Robert Ellis, Peter S Fosl, Nick Fotion, Natasha Gilbert, Wendy Grossman, Alan Haworth, Mathew Iredale, Sue Johnson, Andrea Kern, Chandran Kukathas, Michael LaBossiere, Tim LeBon, Nicholas Maxwell, Christopher Norris, John Shand, Alex Voorhoeve, Craig Walmsley, Keith Ward, Jonathan Wolff. With Thanks to Ophelia Benson, Lori Fells, The Rainnies, Pam Swope, Alex Voorhoeve Subscriptions UK: 01442 879097 North America: 1 800 444 2419 See page 14 for full details Printed by Warwick Printing, Theatre Street, Warwick Distribution by (UK) Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN Tel: 020 8986 4854 (North America) Ingram Periodicals Inc., 1240 Heil Quaker Blvd., La Vergne, TN 37086-7000 Tel: (615) 793 5522 (North America) Ubiquity Distributors Inc., 607 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 Tel: (718) 875 5491 Contributors Notes Contact the editor for further information or to submit ideas. Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts. © 2003, The Philosophers’ Magazine ISSN 1354-814X All views expressed in The Philosophers’ Magazine represent those of the authors of each article and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers. The Philosophers' Magazine/2nd quarter 2003

For the second time in TPM’s history events have caused us to change our plans, and once again it is bad news which is the culprit. Good news, it seems, just doesn’t tend to disrupt our lives in the same way that bad news does.

Back in 2001, the events of 11 September led us to switch the theme of our forum to examine philosophy after the attacks on the twin towers. This time, it is the death of a great philosopher, John Rawls, that has precipitated a similar change of plans.

Of course, the death of a philosopher is not in itself an exceptional event, as the all-too frequent obituaries on our news pages show. Why then devote an issue to remembering Rawls, and not, say, his Harvard colleague Robert Nozick, who also died last year and who some no doubt consider to be at least Rawls’s equal?

Arguing about the relative greatness of our leading philosophers is not the way to answer this question. Time will be a better judge of that than the editorial team of The Philosophers’ Magazine. What is much less debatable is the influence and importance of Rawls’s work, not only in philosophy, but in political theory and even practice. As the articles in our forum on Rawls show (pp27-45), Rawls not only changed the course of political philosophy in the anglophone world, he also had an unparalleled influence beyond academia.

That makes him a particularly suitable philosopher to honour in this magazine, which celebrates the interest the very best philosophy has to those both within and outside academia. Rawls was the prime example of a philosopher whose excellence met the highest standards of professional academics but whose arguments spoke to those far outside this group. Rawls proved that first-rate philosophy need not be impenetrable, scholastic or irrelevant.

Philosophy needs to celebrate figures like Rawls, for there are those who believe that philosophy has lost its way and has become a self-perpetuating profession rather than an earnest enquiry after truth. Nicholas Maxwell, for example, argues in this issue that philosophers need to learn to love wisdom again, and that without a revolution in philosophy, the discipline faces annihilation. Our open debate essay is by Robert Ellis, whose own experiences writing a PhD in philosophy have left him convinced that academic constraints are stifling creativity.

There are those who will say that such voices are Cassandras and that people will always complain about the current state of philosophy, just as they do the current state of the world, or the England football team. In an odd way, these sceptics could be both right and wrong. Simon Glendinning has argued that, in a sense, philosophy is in a perpetual state of crisis. The possibility that we have been led up a blind alley and that what we are doing is empty never leaves us. We can pretend it is not there, but it doesn’t go away. So while it may be true that people will always talk about philosophy losing its way, it may also be true that we always need to be questioning whether it has in fact lost its way. Philosophy is supposed to make no assumptions. If that is right, it cannot afford to assume it is even going in the right direction.

Rawls is a source of hope on this score. Many credit him precisely with changing the flawed direction of political philosophy and putting it onto a better track. But he did this from within the academic tradition that was itself in some kind of crisis. Perhaps this shows how, even when academic philosophy is ailing, the tough intellectual training it provides and the high standards it upholds can help produce thinkers capable of curing the patient from within.

As a general diagnosis, that may be too optimistic. But at least in the case of John Rawls, we can be thankful that the academic tradition really did produce something worthwhile and enduring.

the philosophers’

magazine

98 Mulgrave Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 6LZ, United Kingdom Tel: 020 8643 1504 Fax: 0709 237 6412 editor@philosophers.co.uk www.philosophers.co.uk Editors Julian Baggini (print edition) Jeremy Stangroom (new media)

News Editor Natasha Gilbert news@philosophers.co.uk Reviews Editor Jonathan Derbyshire reviews@philosophers.co.uk

Contributing Editors Susan Dwyer, Simon Eassom, Peter Fosl, Michael LaBossiere, Jeff Mason, Christian Perring

Graphics Jerry Bird, Michael LaBossiere

Illustrations Felix Bennett (cover), Gareth Southwell, Shaun Williams

Contributors Alison Ainley, Catherine Audard, Charles Booth, Steve Deery, Jonathan Derbyshire, Simon Eassom, Robert Ellis, Peter S Fosl, Nick Fotion, Natasha Gilbert, Wendy Grossman, Alan Haworth, Mathew Iredale, Sue Johnson, Andrea Kern, Chandran Kukathas, Michael LaBossiere, Tim LeBon, Nicholas Maxwell, Christopher Norris, John Shand, Alex Voorhoeve, Craig Walmsley, Keith Ward, Jonathan Wolff.

With Thanks to Ophelia Benson, Lori Fells, The Rainnies, Pam Swope, Alex Voorhoeve

Subscriptions UK: 01442 879097 North America: 1 800 444 2419 See page 14 for full details

Printed by Warwick Printing, Theatre Street, Warwick

Distribution by (UK) Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN Tel: 020 8986 4854 (North America) Ingram Periodicals Inc., 1240 Heil Quaker Blvd., La Vergne, TN 37086-7000 Tel: (615) 793 5522 (North America) Ubiquity Distributors Inc., 607 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 Tel: (718) 875 5491

Contributors Notes Contact the editor for further information or to submit ideas. Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts.

© 2003, The Philosophers’ Magazine

ISSN 1354-814X

All views expressed in The Philosophers’ Magazine represent those of the authors of each article and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers.

The Philosophers' Magazine/2nd quarter 2003

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