Game theory is the process of modelling the strategic interaction, behaviour and decision making between two or more agents in a situation containing set rules and outcomes. It can therefore provide a framework for understanding the behaviour of individuals, but also firms and countries in specific situations, in the context Continue Reading
Last Night’s Cafe- Ignorance and the Value of Knowledge
Human societies seem to revolve around the production, archiving and consumption of knowledge – from universities and scientific societies, to adult education to Wikipedia, we appear to prize knowledge highly. But why exactly is this? Dr Mona Simion (Cardiff Uni, Philosophy) invited us to consider several different – yet ultimately Continue Reading
Next CPC – Ignorance and the Value of Knowledge
On the face of it, we seem to care a lot about knowledge. As a society, we invest a lot of money in institutions meant to generate and distribute it. On a personal level, we go to great lengths to send our children to the best schools. But should we Continue Reading
Next Cafe: The Mindfulness Movement – History, Ethics, & Politics
For over one hundred years, peoples of predominantly European and Anglo-American societies – the Western countries of the ‘Global North’ – have turned to Asian-derived mind-body practices and training regimes, such as meditation, as therapeutic ways of living with rapid socio-economic change and political turmoil. Mindfulness, or Buddhist sati, is Continue Reading
Next Cafe: What is Community? (Made in Roath Special!)
Community is back! After almost four decades of neo-liberalism and hyper individualism the cost seems to be all around us, at work, in the street, in the lack of care that politicians seem to manifest in their handling of our lives and our safety. From the Grenfell disaster, in almost Continue Reading
Last Night’s Cafe: Ethics and the Laws of War
When war is unleashed, the philosopher John Locke observed, the combatants find themselves in a situation where no-one is judge or arbitrator, and all that is left is for the warring sides to ‘appeal to heaven’. In other words, the laws and rules that operate with a political community no Continue Reading
Next Cafe: Ethics and the Laws of War
Are there moral rules that govern the conduct of war? We have a body of international humanitarian law concerning armed conflict, such as the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute (which includes war crimes and the crime of aggression). But what is the moral justification of the existence those laws Continue Reading
Next Cafe: Philosophy and Shame
Shame is often viewed as a particularly negative feeling. It might be defined as a feeling compounded of incompetence, indecency, and blame-worthiness, that can lead to self-loathing as well as anger directed inwardly or outwardly. In more extreme cases, it might be experienced as an attack on one’s identity, caused Continue Reading
Next Cafe: Should we legalise the deliberate termination of human life?
Debates around what has been called ‘assisted dying’ or ‘therapeutic killing’ are complex and often heated. In this cafe, John Saunders and Andrew Edgar (Philosophy, Cardiff University) introduce an exploration of the key moral issues at the heart of this topic to help facilitate further reflection on whether the legal Continue Reading
Next Cafe: The Martial Arts as Sustainable, Healthy Practices
The “martial arts”, as an inclusive umbrella term, provide a wide variety of styles and systems from around the world that have a diversity of human movement and training methods that can heal or even harm student-practitioners. Despite their popularity in contemporary societies, the essence of many martial arts as Continue Reading