Spring/Summer Issue 2008

Posted in Uncategorized on May 5, 2008 by dialecticonline

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Language A(n integral) Pondering by Moreno Mitrovic

The endowment with language capacity is an insidious human property that even Linguistic training usually fails to objectify. It is that very objectification of language that is desperately called for, in order to produce and envisage a dualistic, and somewhat complementary, image of The Self.

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Libertarianism and Alienation by Dave Allen

I want to highlight a tension in the doctrine of (political) libertarianism. I define libertarianism as the view that the state should be ‘minimal’; i.e., the state should minimise its involvement in the private affairs of its citizens as much as possible. As stated, this is a very vague position, for how much is ‘as much as possible’?
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Against Atheism (and theism and agonisticism) by James Lamont

I shall explain why I feel that the contemporary atheist movement misunderstands the nature of theism. I will argue that the incoherence of the attributes of god make the statements “god exists” or “there is a god” meaningless sentences, which cannot be subject to truth or falsity conditions. I shall conclude that, ironically, atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris lets theism off too lightly…

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Take Me to the Bridge: Literature and Philosophy by Anna Greenleaves

Anna Greenleaves on what it is like to be an English and Philosophy combined student.

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The Author by Nasta Levine

Everybody makes poetry. It might not be on display, it might not even be on paper, but everybody has moments of trying to “express the inexpressible”. Resorting to clichés is an easy way, as is internally commenting upon the poetry of others.

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Jigsaw by Joe Peach

I know that, in the end, there was nothing else I could have done. What happened, happened, and I shouldn’t blame myself. Somehow, though, I am always wishing, always wondering how things might have been…

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The Day All Possible Worlds Collided Part II by Sarah Wallbank

My mind went blank and then filled with patches of multi-coloured light. Some patches were growing more than others, the smaller ones fading. An irregular bleep was ascending to an ear-throbbing intensity. I couldn’t pick out which direction it was coming from.

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The New Life of the Deceased by James Lamont

The room is an exact square, with just enough room for the deceased, the copy, the doctor and two nurses to be able to move comfortably except without ease or calm. The deceased lies on a gurney, strapped down at the waist, wrists and ankles, her copy gently stroking her intentionally-messy fringe.

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Editorial: A Valediction to Cyberspace by Sharmin Ahammad

Dialectic, the online magazine, is soon going to be Dialectic-in-Print, marking its end as a primarily cyberspace publication. It would be useful, then, to write something about the Internet and what I take it to be its interesting relationship with philosophical themes.

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