In the light of recent EU developments, here are two videos that analyze Brexit from a philosophical perspective.
In this video, Philosophers' Mag asked several philosophers from leading universities their take on the EU referendum arguments. Drawing on the work of Michael Dummett and his views on governments as the moral representatives of citizens, Dr. Alexander Douglas argues that there should be a shift in the EU referendum debate from a focus on how to make Britain stronger to how to make the country better and more able to do the most good. UCL Professor Jonathan Wolff points out that "British independence" is a myth, and Professor Lucy O’Brien draws attention to an interesting contradiction that seems to have informed the voters’ behavior. She says that “after the 2008 crash, there’s greater awareness of our epistemic frailty on socioeconomic matters: we know that we do not know. This is tempered by a strange faith that if either option were disastrous, we wouldn’t have been given the choice.” I found her observation particularly illuminating considering that according to Google, after seeing the results of the referendum and the reaction it caused in the media, UK voters overwhelmingly searched for "What is the EU?" The rest of the video explores the importance of prudence, irrationality, how mass distrust affects our ability to get to the truth, and more.
For a look at the concept of sovereignty, immigration, and how it all ties in with the EU, this video on PhilosophyTube provides some valuable insight. The EU referendum has been heavily reliant on ideas of autonomy, self-determination, and national sovereignty. But what is national sovereignty and how does it differ from individual autonomy? What did the UK lack in sovereignty within the EU and what does it hope to gain outside of it? If we define national sovereignty as the right to exclude others, then we need to ask ourselves who we are excluding, and what will happen with the people we decide to exclude. Might strengthening UK sovereignty imply letting other people die? Olly (the guy behind Philosophy Tube) draws from the philosophy of Achilles Mbembe and his essay "Necropolitics" to address these questions. Mbembe writes that “The ultimate expression of sovereignty resides, to a large degree, in the power and the capacity to dictate who may live and who must die.” Watch the video to see how Olly ties this in with the idea of "camps," and our brain’s ability to replace a complex issue with a far simpler one in order to make sense of reality.
Ana Sandoiu is a writer, researcher & philosophy lover living in Brighton, UK. She also writes on her personal blog, On a Saturday Morning.
The above all things to thine own self be true applies here..
The right to be true to thine own self…was true when it was first spoken and its true now..
and as to
“The manipulation of saying your sending someone to your death”..,is kind of like saying hey an ideology that will treat your culture as infidels is in danger,wont you help??… this guy in the end wants to dominate you and will work to make changes in your countries culture to suit his belief system.and guess what worse..his belief system claims you are not entitled to interpersonal justice..,further that the female gender of your culture is not entitled to justice nor personal autonomy,and in the end they see you as infidels meant to be handled,after all they are the chosen one’s….and neither do they see themselves individually as free agents working on their own behalf,but as a chosen people…and that trumps much of the unity we see displayed here
Why any religion that claims to be the chosen one’s and then acts in consort with one another to disenfranchise other people’s and culture is given the protections of our constitution is one of those absurd contradiction’s.
Having been to Afghanistan three time’s,and dealing with the culture on the south side of Chicago while they eat up so so many resources of our working poor and buy up all that our working poor use to aspire too..,in the trenches,the mentality is one of disenfranchisement on all the levels in their relationship to our working class (i.e. interpersonal justice,economic fair play,respect for our beliefs and culture…….,but alas I guess that matter’s not,to these mouthpieces…,because it is US just the working populist,right?,the academia is in love with this one sided relationship)
Somehow those who live in ivory tower’s in academia and affluent suburbia,those who benefit from globalization and its mechanization’s,those who do not know what it is like to serve in the field or fight for a living in the working class,are telling those in the trenches,that the slave traders of old must not be called out on their current behaviour based in their primitive and supremacist beliefs? Really…
The extremes of political correctness made a new truth by the media and its ownership in Manhattan and use the television set ..to mold beliefs,use the misdirection and half truths and cultural shaming and tell us that the only justice of significance belongs to the newcomers.The only injury that counts is the new comers…We disagree..We here in the trenches disagree….
..Further as the new arrivals (who have ,no skin in the game,yet benfit from all the infrastructure bulit by the very people they want to disenfranchise.. ) verbalize their intent to gain power,…to change your customs,..to alter cultural goods and traditions that are distinctly American…….gain political and economic power……a minority of them will use violence to (in effect)force a change in your constitutional protections,including free speech….In other countries people have been attacked for cartoon renderings and articles,…Here our free speech conventions have been attacked…amongst many soft targets,and the 800 lb gorilla in the room is our naivete that says Oh no they are not supported by the bulk of the rest of their creed,in their attempt at gaining power thru coercion…..only a really mediated belief system could buy that malarkey..
why do we want to give the protections to a primitive ideology with all its silent supporters that wants to remove our protections? …How far tv brainwashing has brought us ,that we would believe it wise to murder a half million of these souls and then invite them to come live with us in our home….Between being just and being wise,it is better to error on the side of being wise….not only would they choose their interest as a faction first as we have seen with other cultures…,the intent is not to fit in,but to change and modify..
…but more to the point it gives government and the internal enemies of liberty in our country an opportunity to use this Muslim presence as a means to change the very fabric of our country and create a nation free in name only…As the multi billion dollar hearts and minds,big brother apparatus use the tactic of terrorism as the the rationale for a complete takeover..
Sorry, the Uk and the U.S.should choose our identity and our well being above these outsiders…. and they are outsiders with their own interest and desire to have power here and power above our people…….after all if a foreign nation came into your country and destabilized the region for economic purposes you would see it as destabilizing your beliefs and values and want to stop it…Change the dragon from within.they now have that opportunity to effect us adversely but it will not stop the machine from its intent..only hurt our people and the nation…It is not clear that that is not part of the agenda at all….Better we build a green grid and get off of their continent,but the interest at hand,big oil,defense,the Jewish faction etc(who somehow acquired three hundred nuclear bombs,from who? not bad for a country established in 1949..)the elite believe in their diety dreams
. .Ever brought a knife to a gunfight,its not pretty…ever been in the middle east and seen the way their people are treated who are Muslim and than see how you and your people are treated as the Women in the all black Burka spat on you as you walked by…Globalization on the terms of the merchant is a losing proposition for our people,its not even fair trade instead the packaging hides a false free trade…
Those who have not been on the losing /leveraged/dominated side of any contention for power..quite frankly should probably excuse themselves from comment,until and unless they go thru such a thing and see all that that means for you and your loved ones,really
It’s really reminiscent of the wealthy and their minions giving one order after another for the workers to carry out,.as their paperwork gets thicker,…no where near cognizant of the blood,sweat and tears,the reality,the load…it doesn’t matter their status guarantees one half of the poor will guard them against the other half…
but you can sit there and preach the reality without experiencing it…boloney…Wow,people who have little to no experience where the rubber meets the road verse people who are NOT insulated from the racism and power plays,the hatred and Muslim supremacy that is the mindset and behaviour of the Muslim…….So calling out white supremacy is far from the matter… here in the U.S and we can see for itself throughout the areas where the immigration has occurred and it is clear not all immigrants have the same character. .here we see the new arrivals demanding we change our beliefs,cultures,all along using our constitutional and cultural goods to help defeat the very thing they receive the benefit from…..it is foolish to think reciprocation and justice are forth coming from this belief system
,we here who actually having dealings and interaction on the ground floor level say, your political correct extremism is an insult and no longer a good but an evil because of its extremism and immaturity..Man is wolf to man and to call it any other color is either immaturity,inexperience or propaganda and vested interest..
.What a juxtaposition of whats really going on in terms of power distribution,and after all this is about power and giving over our identity ,our cultural goods,any political power to an ideology that sees itself as a chosen people and all other religions truly are considered null and void.,illegitimate,….I am agnostic that choice,along with Atheism,along with all branches of Christianity are according to this belief system…something that is followed by dogs and infidels….. and therefore not worthy of giving interpersonal justice.Time to call things as they are as opposed to how we would have them…the propaganda asserts in essence that the 50-100 million killed in ww2,the three million in Nam,the half million in Iraq not counting our children,the 20 plus million in the soviet union,the 100 plus million around the world..the thinking espoused by these men and women denies that these things are a norm in world history…oh yeah they never bled or sweat significantly enough to lend credence to their truths…
…infidels are ok to disenfranchise in any way shape or form…the flip side of the coin you are talking about allowing people to die,it is these same people in their own countries killing them,the irony is and the foolishness is that somehow you think because they have been persecuted by contending factions,that they wont come here and themselves attempt to persecute..lol…
that kind of logic comes from a class of people that benefit from the current structure of globalization,not the general populace,and the other elitist and they believe and are in love with the idea,the romanticism of it all…but the people who must deal with the presence on a day to day basis,with the Muslim on a day to day basis,with immigrants who see our belief system as something that needs to be nullified and overturned…think handing over power and creating another layer of disenfranchisement is incendiary and childish..and born of a politically correct mentality..that betrays our best interest..(especially the part about how gov will use it to erase our nationhood and our authentic protections..I personally wish all could be brotherhood and unity,that unfortunately is not how these guys play ball…
The above all things to thine own self be true applies here..
The right to be true to thine own self…was true when it was first spoken and its true now..
and as to
“The manipulation of saying your sending someone to your death”..,is kind of like saying hey an ideology that will treat your culture as infidels is in danger,wont you help??… this guy in the end wants to dominate you and will work to make changes in your countries culture to suit his belief system.and guess what worse..his belief system claims you are not entitled to interpersonal justice..,further that the female gender of your culture is not entitled to justice nor personal autonomy,and in the end they see you as infidels meant to be handled,after all they are the chosen one’s….and neither do they see themselves individually as free agents working on their own behalf,but as a chosen people…and that trumps (no pun intended)much of the unity we see displayed here
Why any religion that claims to be the chosen one’s and then acts in consort with one another to disenfranchise other people’s and culture is given the protections of our constitution is one of those absurd contradiction’s.
Having been to Afghanistan three time’s,and dealing with the culture on the south side of Chicago while they eat up so so many resources of our working poor and buy up all that our working poor use to aspire too..,in the trenches,the mentality is one of disenfranchisement on all the levels in their relationship to our working class (i.e. interpersonal justice,economic fair play,respect for our beliefs and culture…….,but alas I guess that matter’s not,to these mouthpieces…,because it is US just the working populist,right?,the academia is in love with this one sided relationship)
Somehow those who live in ivory tower’s in academia and affluent suburbia,those who benefit from globalization and its mechanization’s,those who do not know what it is like to serve in the field or fight for a living in the working class,are telling those in the trenches,that the Muslim belief system of old must not be called out on their current behaviour based in their primitive and supremacist beliefs? Really…
The extremes of political correctness made a new truth by the media ownership use the television set ..to mold beliefs, revisionist history,use the misdirection and half truths and cultural shaming and tell us that the only justice of significance belongs to the newcomers.The only injury that counts is the new comers…We disagree..We here in the trenches disagree….
..Further as the new arrivals (who have ,no skin in the game,yet benefit from all the infrastructure built by the very people they want to disenfranchise.. ) verbalize their intent to gain power,…to change your customs,..to alter cultural goods and traditions that are distinctly American…….gain political and economic power……a minority of them will use violence to (in effect)force a change in your constitutional protections,including free speech….In other countries people have been attacked for cartoon renderings and articles,…Here our free speech conventions have been attacked…amongst many soft targets,and the 800 lb gorilla in the room is our naivete that says Oh no they are not supported by the bulk of the rest of their creed,in their attempt at gaining power thru coercion…..only a really mediated belief system could buy that malarkey..
why do we want to give the protections to a primitive ideology with all its silent supporters that wants to remove our protections? …How far tv brainwashing has brought us ,that we would believe it wise to murder a half million of these souls and then invite them to come live with us in our home….Between being just and being wise,it is better to error on the side of being wise….not only would they choose their interest as a faction first as we have seen with other cultures making their way here into positions of power (and effecting foreign policy)….., the intent is not to fit in,but to change and modify..
…but more to the point it gives government and the internal enemies of liberty in our country an opportunity to use this Muslim presence as a means to change the very fabric of our country and create a nation free in name only…As the multi billion dollar hearts and minds,big brother apparatus use the tactic of terrorism as the the rationale for a tyranny only called a Democratic republic
Sorry, the Uk and the U.S.should choose our identity and our well being above these outsiders…. and they are outsiders with their own interest and desire to have power here and power above our people…….after all if a foreign nation came into your country and destabilized the region for economic purposes you would see it as destabilizing your beliefs and values and want to stop it…Change the dragon from within….Better we build a green grid and get off of their continent,but the interest at hand,big oil,defense,the Jewish faction etc(who somehow acquired three hundred nuclear bombs,from who? not bad for a country established in 1949..)the elite believe in their dreams of diety
. .Ever brought a knife to a gunfight,its not pretty…ever been in the middle east and seen the way their people are treated who are Muslim and than see how you and your people are treated as the Women in the all black Burka spat on you as you walked bye..Globalization on the terms of the merchant is a losing proposition for our people,its not even fair trade instead the packaging hides a false free trade…
Those who have not been on the losing /leveraged/dominated side of any contention for power..quite frankly should probably excuse themselves from comment,until and unless they go thru such a thing and see all that that means for you and your loved ones,really
It’s really reminiscent of the wealthy and their minions giving one order after another for the workers to carry out,.as their paperwork gets thicker,…no where near cognizant of the blood,sweat and tears,the reality,the load…it doesn’t matter their status guarantees one half of the poor will guard them against the other half…
but you can sit there and preach the reality without experiencing it…boloney…Wow,people who have little to no experience where the rubber meets the road verse people who are NOT insulated from the racism and power plays,the hatred and Muslim supremacy that is the mindset and behaviour of the Muslim…….So calling out white supremacy is far from the matter… here in the U.S and we can see for itself throughout the areas where the immigration has occurred and it is clear not all immigrants have the same character. .here we see the new arrivals demanding we change our beliefs,cultures,all along using our constitutional and cultural goods to help defeat the very thing they receive the benefit from…..it is foolish to think reciprocation and justice are forth coming from this belief system
,we here who actually having dealings and interaction on the ground floor level say, your political correct extremism is an insult and no longer a good but an evil because of its extremism and immaturity..Man is wolf to man and to call it any other color is either immaturity,inexperience or propaganda and vested interest..
.What a juxtaposition of whats really going on in terms of power distribution,and after all this is about power and giving over our identity ,our cultural goods,any political power to an ideology that sees itself as a chosen people and all other religions truly are considered null and void.,illegitimate,….I am agnostic that choice,along with Atheism,along with all branches of Christianity are according to this belief system…something that is followed by dogs and infidels….. and therefore not worthy of giving interpersonal justice.Time to call things as they are as opposed to how we would have them..A tyrannical government given the power to make a police state based on an imported terrorism seems quite the set up for the global elite..
…and the flip side of the coin you are talking about allowing people to die,it is these same people in their own countries killing them,the irony is and the foolishness is….. that somehow you think because they have been persecuted by contending factions,that they wont come here and themselves and be predators..that example we have seen very clearly in the guise of the media and the people who have acquired the democratic party..ask Hillary and Bill…
that kind of logic comes from a class of people that benefit from the current structure of globalization,not the general populace, they believe and are in love with the idea,the romanticism of it all…but the people who must deal with the presence on a day to day basis,with the Muslim on a day to day basis,a people who see our belief system as something that needs to be nullified and overturned.see this . handing over power and creating another layer of disenfranchisement as incendiary and childish..and born of a politically correct mentality..that betrays our best interest..(especially the part about how gov will use it to erase our nationhood and our authentic protections..I personally wish all could be brotherhood and unity,that unfortunately is not how these guys play ball..the bigger threat is of course the global elite,but this ideology is playing a part ,it is in our best interest to circumvent…