The Philosopher is a long running periodical, established in 1923 by the Philosophical Society of England. Originally in print format, following a split in the mid-2010s the publication now exists in two competing formats.
 | |
| Discipline | Philosophy |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Anthony Morgan |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1923–present |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Standard abbreviations | |
| ISO 4 | Philosopher |
| Indexing | |
| ISSN | 0967-6074 (print) 2398-1458 (web) |
| OCLC no. | 5455998 |
| Links | |
History edit
The Philosopher is a long running periodical[1] that was established in 1923 in order to provide a forum for new ideas across the entire range of philosophical topics, in the clearest and plainest language. Its first issue quoted A.S. Rappoport in A Primer of Philosophy (1904) that:
There is a prevalent notion that philosophy is a pursuit to be followed only by expert thinkers on abstract subjects, that it deals with the pale ghosts of conceptions whose domain is abstract thought, but which have no application to real life. This is a mistake... Man sees the various phenomena of life and nature, forms conceptions and ideas, and then tries to reason and to find out the relation existing between these various facts and phenomena... When man acts in this way we say he philosophises.
The Philosopher was the official publication of the Philosophical Society of England, a charitable organization founded ten years earlier in 1913. The society existed "to promote the study of practical philosophy among the general public", to bring together professional philosophers and non-professionals, to bring philosophical ideas and problems to the public attention, and to encourage wider discussion of both traditional and topical philosophical issues.[2] As part of fulfilling these functions, the society founded The Philosopher as its own journal in addition to running local groups, lectures, workshops, and conferences. The Society ceased to exist in 2014 although Michael Bavidge claimed both its name and assets for his own local group of the society, the 'Newcastle Group'.[2]
A series of arguments internal to the Philosophical Society of England in 2014, lead to the publication being split into two formats;[3] an online only edition, led by long term editor Martin Cohen, and a print only edition originally led by Michael Bavidge.[4] Both publications claim to be direct continuations of The Philosopher prior to the split.[4][5]
Online Edition edit
The online edition of The Philosopher describes itself as "a forum for short, original, brilliant and accessible articles". Articles are edited for clarity by the editorial team, with a focus on making content "clear to the interested reader".[3] The online edition prints articles on a wide range of philosophical topics and book reviews. Recent notable contributors to the online edition include Mel Thompson, and Urmila Bhoola.
Print Edition edit
The print edition of The Philosopher describes itself as a "forum for cutting-edge philosophical discussions to take place, prioritizing exciting up-and-coming thinkers as much as well-established leading figures."[6] The publication is written for the general non-academic public, with a focus on accessibility.
Topics range from core philosophical problems to discussions of current social and political issues. Recent contributors to the print edition include Kathleen Stock,[7] Mary Midgley,[4] Timothy Williamson, Jason Stanley, Linda Martín Alcoff.[8]
Notable articles edit
Historically interesting or notable articles that were identified and recovered by Martin Cohen for the online edition include:
- G. K. Chesterton on "The Need for a Philosophy", Volume 1, 1923
- "Individual Psychology and Education", by John Dewey, Volume XII, 1934
- Erwin Schrödinger on "Science, Art and Play", Volume XIII 1935
- Moritz Schlick on "Unanswerable Questions", Volume XIII, 1935
Editors edit
The editors-in-chief of the journal are:
- 1923–1948: Ada Sheridan, W. H. S. Dumphreys, Thomas Greenwood
- 1949–1972: C. S. Flick, Victor Rienaecker, A. J. Sinclair-Burton
- 1973–1988: George Colbran, Alan Holloway, Geoffrey Brown
- 1989–2013: Keith Dowling, Michael Bavidge, Martin Cohen
- 2013–present: Martin Cohen (for the online edition)
- 2013-2018: Michael Bavidge (for the print edition)
- 2018–present: Anthony Morgan (for the print edition)
See also edit
References edit
- ^ The Philosopher. OCLC 5455998. Retrieved 16 October 2021 – via WorldCat.
- ^ a b "The Philosophical Society of England". The Philosophical Society of England. 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ a b "About The Philosopher". The Philosopher. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Eckstrand, Nathan (25 December 2019). "Academic journal The Philosopher joins with Exact Editions to put their archive online". Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Cohen, Martin (6 September 2016). "Apple tax affair: what would Confucius say? What would Machiavelli advise?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Morgan, Anthony. "About Us". Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Stock, Kathleen (25 July 2019). "Can You Change Your Gender?". Medium. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019.
- ^ "Articles". The Philosopher 1923. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
External links edit
- Online Edition Website: http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk
- Print Edition Website: https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/
- The Philosophical Society of England Website: http://www.philsoceng.uk