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A brief history of philosophy, part 5: roots of Renaissance
Meister Eckhart By reconciling the two giants of ancient philosophy with Christianity, Augustine and Aquinas, although culpable in the torture and murder of many thousands of innocent people, were world-changers who allowed us to eventually start to break away from myth again
A brief history of philosophy, part 6: Reformation and Scientific Revolution
Nicolaus Copernicus What happened next was a revolution that rocked the Church and turned our view of the universe on its head – a scientific revolution that hinged on the work of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).
A brief history of philosophy, part 7: the re-birth of philosophy
René Descartes Philosophy is for doing, not for studying – I know, sorry. But the way that we think nowadays didn’t just fall from the sky – it’s not ‘common sense’ and it hasn’t always been the same. We’re not born with a worldview – it’s something that we develop from what’s gone before.
A brief history of philosophy, part 8: empiricism vs. rationalism
John Locke The 17th century saw the beginnings of one of the most important epistemological debates in the history of philosophy, that ran well into the 18th – between empiricists and rationalists.
A brief history of philosophy, part 9: Enlightenment
Immanuel Kant The Enlightenment was a time of great political as well as philosophical change. Much was written about how society should be organised. Locke’s vision of a society that protects and promotes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was cemented in the US Declaration of Independence, and the culmination of the Enlightenment – …
A brief history of philosophy, part 10: Romanticism, utilitarianism and the dialectic
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), sometimes called the father of Romanticism, is often attributed with the phrase ‘noble savage’, although he never actually said it. What it implies is some golden age when humans lived in a ‘state of nature’ – in harmony with ecology and with each other.
A brief history of philosophy, part 11: the splintering of philosophy
Friedrich Nietzsche Hegel represented the end of huge, speculative, metaphysical systems. After Hegel, philosophy started to splinter into many ideas vying for dominance – none of which could be said to represent the growing tip, only the branches.
A brief history of philosophy, part 12: socialism, utopianism and anarchism
Karl Marx Karl Marx (1818-1883) is possibly the most studied philosopher in history. He said that the point of philosophy is not to understand the world, but to change it – and change it he did, with an idea, although he never saw the effects of his idea after its interpretation and implementation by others …
A brief history of philosophy, part 13: continental vs. analytic philosophy
Bertrand Russell Twentieth century philosophy split very roughly into ‘analytic’ (mainly in the English-speaking world) and ‘continental’ (mainly in mainland Europe), and was influenced heavily by contributions to the way we think about ourselves and the rest of existence from two non-philosophers: Freud and Einstein.
A brief history of philosophy, part 14: the rise and fall of postmodernism
Michel Foucault By the 1980s, a new way of thinking began to be applied to academic philosophy with almost a religious fervour that caused quite a bit of acrimony within academia, but which has now faded.
A brief history of philosophy, part 15: what next?
This is the final article in this series. Over the past 15 weeks I’ve tried to highlight the times in history where philosophy has helped, along with technology and events, to change the direction in which we’re moving.
Fedwikis
First, this article is a really good introduction to Federated wiki, and why it could be huge. The article is from 2014. In case the article disappears, here are 3 videos from the article that explain what all the fuss is about (7 minutes in total – well worth it). 30 years on – Fedwiki …
A community-owned business-to-business barter system: advice and proposal
by Matthew Slater This proposal argues that the barter industry is captive to its software providers, and that a different, community-owned, model of software ownership could free the barter industry from the poor practices and over-extraction that now hold it back.
EPA info on septic tank & drainage field construction: plan of septic tank and drainage field
Plan of septic tank and drainage field from the Irish EPA Code of Practice.
EPA info on drainage field construction: percolation area
Cross-section of percolation trench.
EPA info on drainage field construction: raised percolation area
Cross-section of raised percolation bed.
Setting up a social enterprise – different structures
A social enterprise is a business set up for the greater good – to benefit society, disadvantaged people, the environment etc. There are various different structures that you can use.
How to register a company limited by guarantee
First make sure that a company by guarantee is what you need. If you’re thinking about it, you’re probably looking to set up some sort of social enterprise. See here for the different options you have.
Construction summary for a soil-based constructed wetland system
This is a handy summary to make sure you’ve remembered all the construction details.
Construction summary for a horizontal flow reed bed
The following list is a summary of the work needed to build a horizontal flow gravel reed bed system: