''Philosophy Now'' is a bimonthly philosophy magazine sold from news-stands and book stores in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada; it is also available on digital devices, and online. It aims to appeal to the general educated 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 generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

by then atheist philosopher

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was an English 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 ...

, 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 status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

(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 The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

to start a similar magazine in the United States. The APA executive director Eric Hoffman arranged a meeting in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

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 The Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) is a non-profit publisher and resource center that provides access to scholarly materials in applied ethics, classics, philosophy, religious studies, and related disciplines. It publishes academic journa ...

. 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 philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

Award for 2016. Rick Lewis also translated and publish the Philosophy Now in Persian for the first time with AmirAli Maleki, the founder and editor of Praxis Publication.

The magazine contains articles on most areas of philosophy. Most are written by academics, though some are by postgraduate students or 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'', supposedly written by a

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...

of the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

sage. There is an online forum for discussion of the magazine's contents.

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, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power. P ...

'' * ''

International Bibliography of Periodical Literature International Bibliography of Periodical Literature (IBZ: ''Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur'') covers the academic journal literature in the humanities, social sciences, and related disciplines. Coverage includes journals f ...

'' (IBZ)

''Philosophy Now'' Festival

The magazine organised a philosophy festival for the general public every two years from 2011 to 2020. It was held at Conway Hall in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

in central London. The first festival, in 2011, was held partly to mark the 20th anniversary of the magazine's launch. It became a regular biannual event, with festivals held in 2013, 2015, January 2018 and 2020. Each festival was a one-day event involving contributions from more than a dozen philosophy organisations including Philosophy For All and the

Royal Institute of Philosophy The Royal Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1925, is a charitable organisation that holds and funds lectures and events on philosophical topics. It publishes two journals and offers grant programmes as part of its mission to share philosophica ...

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 professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

* 2015: Cressida Cowell * 2016: Peter Singer * 2017: James Randi * 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 Philosophical mass media