''Philosophy Now'' is a bimonthly philosophy magazine sold from news-stands and book stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada; it is also available on digital devices, and online. It aims to appeal to the wider public, as well as to students and philosophy teachers. It was established in 1991 and was the first general philosophy magazine.

History

''Philosophy Now'' was established in May 1991 as a quarterly magazine by Rick Lewis. The first issue included an article on

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

by then

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

philosopher

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught at ...

, who remained an occasional contributor for many years. The magazine was initially published in Lewis' home town of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

(England). Peter Rickman soon became one of the most regular contributors. In 1997, a group of American philosophers including Raymond Pfeiffer and Charles Echelbarger lobbied the American Philosophical Association to start a similar magazine in the United States. The then APA executive director Eric Hoffman arranged a meeting in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

in 1997, to which Lewis was invited. At the meeting, it was decided that the American group should join forces with Lewis to further develop ''Philosophy Now''. Since that time, the magazine has been produced jointly by two editorial boards, in the UK and US. The magazine is distributed in the US by the Philosophy Documentation Center. In 2000 ''Philosophy Now'' increased its frequency to appear bimonthly. Lewis is now the Editor in Chief, while Grant Bartley is Editor of the print edition and Bora Dogan edits the digital editions. ''Philosophy Now'' won the

Bertrand Russell Society Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ar ...

Award for 2016. Among the international collaborations of this magazine, it is possible to mention the collaboration with Praxis Publication, the first Iranian magazine(Edited By AmirAli Maleki), which, by obtaining the right to publish philosophy Now, translated this magazine for Persian readers for the first time.

The magazine contains articles on most areas of philosophy. Most are written by academics, though some are by postgraduate students or by independent writers. Although it aims at a non-specialist audience, ''Philosophy Now'' has frequently attracted articles by well-known thinkers. ''Philosophy Now'' also regularly features book reviews, interviews, fiction, a film column, cartoons, and readers' letters. Its regular columnists include Raymond Tallis (''Tallis in Wonderland'') and Peter Adamson (''Philosophy Then''). For some years there was a philosophical agony-aunt column called ''Dear Socrates'', allegedly written by a

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrectio ...

of the

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

sage. The magazine's contents are discussed in an online discussion forum.

Scoops and controversies

The philosophy Professor

, noted for his arguments in favour of atheism, published a letter in ''Philosophy Nows August/September 2004 issue in which he first indicated that his position regarding God's existence had changed. The news of Flew's change-of-mind was carried in many newspapers worldwide, most of them referencing Flew's ''Philosophy Now'' letter. A ''Philosophy Now'' interview with the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor in 2009 created controversy in Canadian newspapers because of Taylor's dismissive remarks about an atheist poster campaign on buses.

Abstracting and indexing

The magazine is abstracted and indexed in: * ''

British Humanities Index The British Humanities Index is a database published by ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known f ...

'' * '' International Bibliography of Periodical Literature'' (IBZ)

''Philosophy Now'' Festival

In 2011, the magazine organised a philosophy festival for the general public. The venue was Conway Hall in central London. Since then the Philosophy Now Festival has become a regular biannual event. The second ''Philosophy Now'' Festival was held in 2013, the third in 2015 and the fourth in January 2018. Each festival was a one-day event involving contributions from a large number of philosophy organisations including Philosophy For All and the Royal Institute of Philosophy. The next festival will be held on 18 January 2020.

Against Stupidity Award

Also in 2011, the magazine launched an annual award, the ''Philosophy Now'' Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity. The first winner was the philosopher Mary Midgley. Each year since, there has been an award ceremony at Conway Hall, including an acceptance speech. In 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2018 this was part of the ''Philosophy Now'' Festival. In October 2015 ''Philosophy Now'' announced that the 2015 Award would for the first time be given to a children's author, Cressida Cowell. The full list of winners is: * 2011: Mary Midgley * 2012: Ben Goldacre * 2013: Raymond Tallis * 2014:

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

* 2015: Cressida Cowell * 2016:

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular ...

* 2017:

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

* 2018: Robert Sapolsky * 2019: Angela Phillips * 2020: Jon Ronson

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://philosophynow.org 1991 establishments in England Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom English-language magazines Magazines established in 1991 Magazines published in London Philosophy magazines Philosophy Documentation Center academic journals Public philosophy