Your standard hedonist is a very easy-to-maintain companion - largely self-sustaining, she will find occupation and entertainment in almost any given situation. However, if you make the choice to welcome a hedonist into your life, there are a number of things that will ensure she remains healthy and contented and will allow you to get the most out ( Read more... )

What is it that makes us consider certain actions - or behaviours, attitudes, ways of being and so on - to be moral or immoral, right or wrong, good or evil (the latter only if we want to speak in metaphysical absolutes and I seldom to never do)? It's one thing to say that one subscribes to a particular ethical system - like utilitarianism, ( Read more... )

Much as I have been entertaining hopes of - and I think it will be agreed, making at least some efforts towards - becoming a more prolific blogger, today has been one of those days where inspiration simply hasn't been forthcoming. So what's a writer to do when she finds herself in an emotional, intellectual and practical slump ( Read more... )

One of my favourite treats from Queen Victoria Markets is ham made from free-range pigs raised in the Otways. Well, I say ‘treat’ but the truth is that I buy some nearly every time I visit the markets, simply because it’s the most delicious ham I have ever experienced. I’m not sure how much of a psychological aspect is involved - perhaps a ( Read more... )

I have recently become hyperaware of my left thumb. The reason for this is that in my enthusiasm for preparing dinner last night, I sliced quite deeply into the tip of it and it is now snugly taped up with steri-strips and a bandaid. It’s not just that I’m left-handed, which of course makes this accident all the more inconvenient; or that I now ( Read more... )

This evening I have been inspired by this article, by The Philosopher and the Wolf author Mark Rowlands, to consider the subject of the consciousness of nonhuman animals and whether they can be said to exhibit any form of morality. You'll notice right away that I avoid the dichotomy of speaking of 'humans' and 'animals' as two distinct categories ( Read more... )

Life might not have a purpose or ultimate significance but it is not devoid of satisfactions, temporal and transitory though they may be. I have, in the past, refuted claims made by religious believers that in the absence of hope for an eternal reward in a spiritual afterlife, my earthly life must be terribly depressing and meaningless; why, I ask ( Read more... )

This post may in fact be a continuation of yesterday's rant; but I'll be heading off on a somewhat different tangent and hopefully rounding out and concluding my present contemplations on the notion that life must have some kind of purpose ( Read more... )

Today my attention was drawn to this article, a reflective piece on the writer's desire to be a mother over and above every other possible life goal. Amongst other things, it contained the bizarre phrase, "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." It was a fairly moderate article, considering it appeared on Life Site News, which is ( Read more... )

Following on from yesterday's post about pushing rocks uphill, I thought it might be worth reflecting upon the idea of setting goals and working towards them - in short, leading a purpose-driven life. I don’t mean this in the sense elucidated by Rick Warren in his infamous book, obviously - even if I thought my life had a single overarching purpose ( Read more... )