GUIDE TO LIFE ARCHIVE GUIDE TO LIFE ⇒

1997

• Because conviction and certainty are undesirable, does that mean that nothing is important?
• Is the issue of morality so complex that simplification is a betrayal?
• Is the issue of morality so simple that complication is an avoidance?
• Do we have the right to separate ourselves from others based on judgements of ability, excellence, virtue or any other criteria?
• Does genius exist?
• If genius exists then what does it consist of?
• If genius exists is it useful?
• If genius exists then is it so rare to be irrelevant?
• Are geniuses always the people who don’t think they are geniuses?
• Are there some fields of human endeavour where genius is relevant or is the quality of genius too rarefied to be anywhere useful?
• Should non-geniuses serve the interests of geniuses?
• Is there any connection between genius and art?
• Do geniuses make the best artists?
• If geniuses are so rare then is their life experience so rarefied to be generally irrelevant?
• Is the function of art to be a communication of the artist’s common humanity?
• If art is a communication of the artist’s humanity then is it relevant or justifiable for a genius to be an artist?
• What is the function of art?
• Do I have any responsibility for other people?
• Am I responsible for being born into a privileged, rich western country?
• Is the statement that western countries are rich and privileged an acceptance of truth and the presence of an injustice or is it racism?
• If I say that a scale of wealth and privilege between countries is indeterminable then is that an excuse for me to remain comfortable and complacent or is it an expression of respect towards people in other countries?
• Am I responsible for the injustices of the colonial past?
• Is morality conceit?
• Is it true that Post-modernism’s rejection of universal truths is a sell out to capitalism as without a belief in an alternative truth no resistance is possible?
• Was the existence of revolutionary idealism in the past only a naive and hopeless dream?
• Is justice possible?
• Are people just inherently violent?
• Does the backlash as a phenomena really exist?
• Is the traditional greater access of women to children a privilege or a curse?
• Is the right to go out to work something women should actually have fought for?
• Are homosexuals born or made?
• Is homosexuality a choice or a compulsion?
• Does an artistic avant-garde still exist?
• Is the loss of the avant-garde really a loss?
• Is the denial of the avant-garde a conservative plot?
• Can there be a Zeitgeist without the existence of God as the means of transmission?
• Is any acceptance of transcendent or unexplainable phenomena simply a belief in God?
• Is the idea of the transcendent simply a cover for ignorance?
• Is there really any reason why a model of the world as being filled with other people and objects is more likely than me being alone here and creating dreams for myself?
• Do I really exist or am I just a dream in the mind of God?
• Is progress possible?
• Are my conceptual decisions guided by my aesthetic or my aesthetic decisions guided by my concept?
• Is it possible to separate aesthetics and art?
• Is it possible to purge everything in a work of art that is guided by aesthetic or is it only possible to try and create the illusion that that has been done?
• In a world where there’s so much pain and injustice is a lack of morality justifiable?
• Are determinations of pain and injustice dependent on the existence of morality?
• If I accept the existence of pain and injustice then does that mean I have a morality even though I might tell myself I don’t?
• If I decide that morality isn’t possible or desirable than can I still describe things as pain or injustice and remain consistent?
• Is an age of consent for sex a necessary protection or does it come from an adult fear and non-acceptance of child sexuality and a wish to keep believing in a myth of childhood innocence?
• Is non-exploitative sex between an adult and child possible?
• When is a child no longer a child?
• Is non-exploitative sex between two adults possible?
• Are homosexual relationships less exploitative than heterosexual relationships because a greater commonality between the partners exists?
• Are homosexual relationships more exploitative than heterosexual relationships because a greater commonality between the partners exists?
• Does a greater commonality exist between the partners in a homosexual relationship as between the partners in a heterosexual relationship?
• Does power exist?
• Are there fundamental differences between men and women?
• Are there really only two sexes or is the division into male and female a societal decision taken purely for convenience?
• Can you extrapolate out from personal experience to achieve knowledge of someone else?
• If you can’t extrapolate out from personal knowledge to achieve knowledge of others then is all knowledge of others impossible?
• If I can’t receive any knowledge of others then has it any relevance to say they exist?
• If I can receive knowledge of others then is the division between self and other senseless?
• In a world without discoverable truth am I responsible for choosing a set of beliefs?
• In a world with discoverable truth am I responsible for choosing a set of beliefs?
• Is it more important to choose beliefs that are culturally desirable or ones that are true?
• If a state of perfect knowledge is unattainable then is some knowledge better than none?
• Does knowledge without perfection only achieve distortion?
• Is the possession of some knowledge an unacceptable compromise of the ideal of perfect knowledge?
• If something desired is unattainable then is a compromise better than giving up altogether?
• Is a feeling of belonging only a comforting illusion?
• Is a state of uncertainty immoral?
• Does a national identity actually mean anything?
• Is any commonality between people really possible?
• Is there such a thing as altruism and selflessness?
• Can an experience of transcendence be found through art?
• Can art function as a replacement for God?
• Why are artists so driven to make art?
• Is a drive to make art just a wish to avoid doing something a bit more constructive?
• If art is irrelevant to human survival then why is there such a thing as a drive to make it?
• Do artists really have a drive to make art or do they only say that to try and justify their life choices in the eyes of the world?
• Am I too scared to admit that I just do things because I want to?
• Is there any point in a work ethic?
• Is a life spent just sitting and staring out a window say, of any less value than a life spent doing something accepted as useful?
• Was the work ethic just created by early capitalists to convince people that they were acquiring some kind of personal virtue by working long hours to make someone else rich?
• If the work ethic is just some kind of outworn social trick then how do we escape from it?
• Is it possible to help others?
• Is the performance of ‘good works’ always just personal gratification?
• If the performance of ‘good works`is just personal gratification then does that matter as other people get helped in the process?
• Is an experience of transcendence an essential human need or a dangerous non-acceptance of reality?
• Are some things better not talked about?
• Is an aesthetic experience a religious experience?
• Is the opposite of aesthetic anaesthetic?
• Do aesthetics exist?
• Are aesthetics wired into the brain or culturally conditioned?
• Following the principle of the golden mean, for example, does that mean if we knew what we should measure and how we should measure it then every experience of beauty could be exactly controlled and quantified?
• Can there be an underlying harmony in nature without there being a god?
• Are judgements of quality in art possible?
• Are judgements of quality in any field possible?
• Does making any determination of quality imply a belief in elitism?
• Is any drive for personal improvement possible without implying a judgement of quality?
• Does an attempt to change anything imply a judgement of quality?
• Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?
• Is there any value in an attempt that fails?
• Does God exist?
• Are everything and nothing the same thing?
• Are everything and nothing the two extremes of a scale or the identical point on a circle?
• Do you get more and more wrong the closer you try to approach the truth?
• Is a just state possible or does any organisation involve an unacceptable compromise of individual freedom?
• Do I choose my friends because I think they are good people?
• Is it possible to escape from our deep-seated beliefs of what is good and what is bad?
• Is any decision making possible without making a judgement of good and bad?
• Is it morally justifiable to take anything seriously?
• Is it inhumane to take everything as a joke?
• Should all people be respected regardless of their beliefs?
• Where is the boundary between beliefs deserving of respect and beliefs not deserving of respect?
• If any belief is only the creation of a comforting illusion then can some comforting illusions be said to be better than others?
• Is it possible to live without a belief in anything?
• If a life without belief is impossible then is a consistent life impossible?
• Is the majority always right?
• Can the worth of a work of art be judged according to the suffering involved in its making?
• Is an avoidance of suffering a stupid way to run a life?
• Why do I believe that suffering implies some kind of virtue?
• Can censorship ever be justifiable?
• Is it ever possible to make a decision about what is good for someone else?
• Is fascism bad?
• Is it possible to have a fascist state where a greater proportion of people are happier than in a non-fascist system?
• Does freedom exist?
• If freedom exists then what does it consist of?
• Is it possible to be personally free in a repressive system?
• Is it possible to be personally free in a non-repressive system?
• Is a non-repressive system possible?
• Can the value of a system be measured according to the overall quantity of human happiness or does one person’s suffering cancel everything else out?
• What is fascism?
• Is cleanliness better than dirtiness and if so where is the line when dirty becomes too dirty?
• Is food an integral part of culture and if so is it imperialist to eat foreign food with no understanding or interest in wider cultural realities?
• Is tourism justifiable as a method of wealth distribution between poorer and richer countries or is it always a form of cultural exploitation and abuse?
• Is being thin healthier than being fat?
• Is it possible to grade human suffering from mild to extreme or has every person’s suffering an equal value?
• Is it morally justifiable to have children when the future seems so uncertain and there’s already too many people in the world?
• If the biological purpose of life is reproduction, then is there any purpose to a life without children?
• Is the future really so uncertain or is a belief in impending doom an integral part of the human psyche?
• Why is a belief in impending doom a part of the human psyche if it has no bearing on reality?
• Is the urge to have children biology or social conditioning?
• Is property theft?
• Is cosmetic surgery a manifestation of a societal woman hatred or is the improvement of an individual quality of life which can happen through cosmetic surgery more important than any other considerations like the possibly faulty thought processes that may lie behind it?
• Is war ever justifiable?
• Can some doubts be so small to be justifiably ignored?
• If a life of complete integrity is impossible then is there a qualitative difference between different degrees of failure?
• Is a search for truth just an attempt to find God?
• Is certainty always dangerous?
• Without certainty or belief is anything possible?
• Without belief is there a reason to do anything?
• Does taking an action of any kind imply a decision and does a decision always involve belief?
• Are all words slippery or are some words more slippery than others?
• What is more important, what we say or the way we say it?
• Is art only possible or logical from a state of ignorance, as once we know what we want to say then art becomes a very stupid and pretentious way to say it?
• Are images more slippery than words?
• Are artists people who are too lazy or too stupid to do the background reading necessary to becoming scientists and philosophers?
• Is painting dead?
• Is it important in art to strive to be contemporary?
• Is there such a thing as contemporary or is that only a difference of styling?
• Is it possible to make any kind of logical investigation without knowing beforehand what you want to prove?
• Is art different to craft, design, or architecture and if so what does this difference consist of?
• What is the difference between functional and non-functional?
• Is elitism good or bad?
• Is elitism avoidable?
• In any exhibition where does the art stop and the non-art begin?
• Are labelling, catalogues, seating and toilets in an exhibition space art?
• What is art?
• Is sexism real?
• Have women always had all the important power but have just recently lost the ability to see that with clarity?
• Do individuals really have any power?
• Why does it seem that idealism is no longer possible?
• ` Is it possible to know the truth about our childhoods?
• Why is it that some artists get famous and others don’t?
• Is fame a sign of quality?
• Is art really useful to society?
• Should artists feel justified to go on the dole because it’s the only way to secure an income in their chosen profession?
• Does the world owe me a living?
• Is it what you know or who you know?
• Is there a qualitative difference between people living today and people living in the past?
• Are people living today cleverer because they know more?
• Does greater knowledge lead to greater intelligence?
• What does intelligence consist of?
• Are some people more intelligent than others?
• What does the life experience of a dog feel like?
• Is art just a commodity?
• Was art always just a commodity?
• Is just some art a commodity or all art?
• Is there anything wrong with art just being a commodity?
• What kind of art isn’t a commodity?
• Is the museum the most appropriate place for art?
• Is any form of elitism just prejudice or fascism in another guise?
• Does any acknowledgement of differences always lead to elitism?
• Is it possible or desirable to function outside the art market?
• Is it possible to be an artist and have no interest in fame or recognition?
• Is any desire to show art to others just a desire for fame and recognition?
• Is art still art when nobody sees it?
• Do I not know anything about art but just know what I like?
• Is any critical response to art just an expression of like or dislike?
• Is it possible to not like something yet still recognise its worth?
• Can art ever be more than an expression of subjectivity?
• Is art is only an expression of subjectivity then is there anything wrong in the cult of the artist?
• Is it bad to be more interested in the artist than in the work?
• Is there a difference between the artist and the work?
• Is art appreciation a specialised activity like scientific research?
• Is the definition of art something that can be appreciated without background knowledge?
• Is accessibility relevant as a criteria for judging art?
• Is any attempt to bring art to the people just arrogance?
• Is originality important?
• If art is an expression of subjectivity then can unoriginality be possible?
• If art is an expression of subjectivity then can originality be possible?
• Is art ever honest?
• Is honesty important?
• Is there a difference between originality and honesty?
• How can you live without constantly exploiting others?
• Is a post-modern rejection of identity only possible for those whose identities occupy a position of privilege?
• For oppressed minorities is a rejection of identity just doing exactly what the oppressors want: staying silent and letting them keep the power?
• Do oppressed minorities exist?
• Is a rejection of identity by non-oppressed groups irrelevant as they keep the power whether they want it or not?
• Is loneliness a stupid emotion if the identities of others aren’t provable?
• Is loneliness a stupid emotion if the identities of others are provable?
• Is human contact worth the effort?
• Is it possible to create belief by a conscious act of will?
• Is there any point in feeling unpleasant emotions if they can possibly be avoided?
• Do emotions have any reality or should they just be ignored?
• Is there any reality outside the emotions?
• Is art learnable or just a talent you’ve either got or you haven’t?
• If artistic talent exists then what could it possible be useful for?
• Is it possible to make art which doesn’t allow any possibly present talent to come into play?
• Is it possible to make art which is purged of all originality?
• Is an art purged of all originality an original idea?
• Is it always better to be kind than unkind?
• Is it better to be successful than unsuccessful?
• Is happiness a measure of success?
• What is more important than happiness?
• Is happiness just moral living?
• Is happiness at the expense of others really happiness?
• Are there some people in the world who just enjoy being bastards?
• Does evil exist?
• Should bad people be pitied?
• Does tragedy exist?
• Is the individual more important than the mass?
• Is the individual a meaningless concept?
• Is the mass a meaningless concept?
• Is it possible to make the world a better place?
• Will the meek inherit the earth?
• Are all these questions predetermined by some kind of internal morality that I’m not aware of possessing?
• Is morality determined by culture?
• Is there a difference between morality and ethics?
• Is there a difference between astrophysics and religion?
• Is this a work about the fact of asking questions or a work about the questions being asked?
• Would my life be qualitatively different if I was prettier?
• Can you be too rich or too thin?
• Is any equality in a relationship between a man and a woman possible?
• Is any equality in a relationship between two women or two men possible?
• Am I justified in taking my personal feelings into account in any life decisions I make?
• Do I have the right to make my own life decisions?
• Is it possible to purge myself of worldly desires?
• Is it possible to waste time?
• Are the best artists always the ones that work the hardest?
• Is there any value in a work ethic?
• Is unhappiness stupid and unnecessary?
• Can things just happen to us without us wanting it?
• Do we choose our own deaths?
• Do some people deserve to die?
• Do I hate anyone?
• Does a supernatural world exist?
• Are animals as important as humans?
• Is there any value in trying to keep endangered species alive or have they just failed to be tough enough?
• If we’re just animals too and the animal kingdom runs on dominance and submission then what’s wrong with us being dominant?
• Can animals really feel pain like we can?
• Is there any point in trying to change the future?
• Is it possible to change the future?
• Is humanity just a machine that has to run its course?
• Is any illusion we have of control just an illusion?
• Does an individual human really have the power to change anything?
• Do any groupings of humans really have the power to change anything?
• Is there actually anything or anybody that has power?
• Is power simply too diffuse to be able to be acted upon in any way?
• What is power?
• Are there some life experiences that just can’t be recovered from?
• Is any personal change possible?
• Can I understand anything that I don’t already know?
• Is it better to be in a relationship than not to be in a relationship?
• Can you escape from societal conditioning?
• Is everything about us fixed at birth?
• Is everything about us fixed by the time we reach consciousness in childhood?
• Is inequality between humans inevitable?
• Is it possible to escape from relations of dominance and submission in any area of life?
• If not then is it immoral not to try and make the futile attempt?
• Is it possible to refuse one’s humanity?
• Is a state of uncertainty a sign that I have been crippled by the seemingly monolithic power systems of international capitalism?
• Is a state of uncertainty a paradigm shift in human consciousness of great importance?
• Was there ever a state of certainty?
• In fifty years time will the welfare state just be a short-lived historical phenomena of the middle years of the twentieth century?
• Is any employment better than unemployment?
• Is meaninglessness the same as despair?
• Is despair a bad thing or just a feeling?
• Is identity composed of difference?
• If I’m at all different to anyone else then must I have an identity?
• If I have no identity then must we be all the same?
• Or do I have an identity that is the same as everyone else’s?
• Is there the same amount of identities as people in the world or just a few different ones that we share between us?
• Should artists be working for social change?
• Is art by definition politically progressive?
• Does the very decision to become an artist encompass a political statement as a rejection of the work ethic and productivity?
• Is it possible for an artist to be politically and socially critical at the same time as getting famous and making lots of money?
• Is political engagement only possible from a position of partial blindness and naiveté?
• Does any thinking person end up with so many completely conflicting beliefs that turning any of them into action is impossible?
• If I remove my art from the system of the art market and commodity capitalism then what other system do I use?
• Is capitalism really bad and if so what is the alternative?
• What do I really want for my life?
• Do I really want to be an artist or have I just somehow ended up here?
• Is it possible to get pleasure from a work of art that is non-aesthetic?
• Is there a function for an art that affords no pleasure?
• Is the experience that we get when we look at old art only an aesthetic experience?
• Can it be any other kind of experience if the work is so temporally removed from us that an understanding of the artists intentions is impossible?
• Is an understanding of the artist’s intentions important for an appreciation of the work?
• Does the experience of viewing complete the work of art?
• Is art immortal?
• What is the connection between art of say, the middle ages, and art of today?
• Are contemporary art and art of the past so qualitatively different that the decision to call them both art is senseless?
• If art is called art by definition of what kind of function it serves then do contemporary art and art of the past have any function in common?
• Is everything now allowable or is there still something that has the power to shock?
• Is using shock tactics a valid way to jolt people out of complacency or an abusive power game?
• Is it important to strive for integrity?
• If we aren’t striving for integrity then does that mean that we’re striving for unintegrity?
• Is it right to judge others?
• If it is not right to judge others then is non-judgement then the highest moral truth as people who behave wrongly should not be judged for it?
• If non-judgement is the highest moral truth then does that mean that I can’t protest against anything as any action involves judgement?
• Should everyone be respected?
• Does respect for others mean respect for their beliefs and decisions?
• Can people be respected as human beings apart from their beliefs and decisions?
• If I decide that morality exists then am I just creating another higher power to fill the hole left by the non-existence of God?
• Is there a hole left by the non-existence of God?
• Is morality possible without a belief in God?
• Is it self-deception to not believe in God yet to have moral beliefs?
• Is the fundamental point of a non-belief in God the refusal to believe in something that cannot be proved?
• Can anything be proved?
• Is a non-belief in God just a personal decision because I simply don’t like the idea?
• What are the implications of a non-belief in God?
• Does a non-belief in God have to involve the rejection of any kind of transcendent or higher realm?
• Does a non-belief in God have to involve the rejection of any kind of truth?
• Is a rejection of any kind of truth possible?
• Does a non-belief in God mean that I also can’t believe in science as that’s just another form of transcendent ordering system?
• Does a non-belief in God mean that life is just a pointless game?
• If a non-belief in God implies that there is nothing apart from the lives we lead then how can life be pointless as the presence of pointlessness depends on the presence of pointfulness and if life is described as pointless it implies that there is something else which is not life which is pointful but nothing apart from life exists?
• Does a belief in God then mean that life is just a pointless game?
• Are our beliefs just distractions from the unbearable reality that belief is impossible?
• Are our beliefs purely a matter of choice?
• If belief is just a matter of choice then does that make belief stupid?
• Or if beliefs are just a matter of choice then does that give them a far more intense meaning because they are chosen and not just a following of what is true?
• Is violence bad?
• Is violence bad if it’s used in self-defence?
• Is there a difference between violence and retaliation?
• Is being killed better than becoming a perpetrator?
• Are there some beliefs that are worth dying for?
• Does society really put any external constraints on me?
• Are any constraints that I feel just internal?
• Is there any way to determine the difference between external and internal constraints?
• Can I escape from my conscience?
• Is the function of art to reflect the truths of a historical period?
• If art is elitist then how can it really reflect the truths of a period?
• If art is elitist then what is its function?
• If every artist is somehow a representation of humanity then how can one artist be better than another?
• Is there any belief, moral or ideal that has been common to every culture and time period?
• If a belief has been common to every culture and time period then could this be deemed to be true?
• But what happens if this belief changes tomorrow?
• If nothing is true or can be proved to be true then can the categories of true and false be deemed to have no meaning?
• If one thing can be proved to be true does that mean that the categories of true and false do have meaning so all of the things which cannot be proved should not be believed in?
• If nothing is true then what can explain man’s eternal search for truth?
• Does a human need for truth imply that something must be true otherwise we would never have considered starting on this path?
• Does a need always imply the possibility of its fulfilment?
• Is the only possible progress a recognition of ultimate complexity?
• Is truth or knowledge only valid by its relation to our pragmatic needs not by any relation to so called reality?
• Can we set limits?
• Should we set limits?
• If we set limits on anything then do we have to accept the principle of limit setting for everything?
• If it is justifiable to set limits on the proliferation of nuclear weapons then is it also justifiable to set limits on personal freedoms?
• If the principle of limit-setting isn’t universally applicable then how do we decide when it is and when it isn’t?
• Is there a difference between a personal freedom and a freedom of a state?
• Is it possible to have a non-egocentric desire?
• If there is no truth then can anything be deduced by reason?
• Is my body real or just a projection of my mind?
• Is there such a thing as a waste of money?
• Which is the greatest evil, the immorality of indecision or the adoption of false precepts?
• If I have no rational basis for preferring one course of action to another then should I just follow the norms of what is around me?
• Do I have the right to hold beliefs that are in conflict with societal norms?
• Am I always a good artist because when I make a bad piece of work I’m being a bad artist which is a separate thing?
• Is the road to hell paved with good intentions?
• What is the point of knowledge?
• Does knowledge exist?
• Does knowledge have to be true?
• Is the desire for knowledge a pure human urge or just a manifestation of grasping ambition?
• Is ambition bad?
• Does a rise always involve someone else’s fall?
• Are there only a finite number of places for successful people or could everyone be successful?
• If someone always has to pay a price for my success then can I morally justify any ambition?
• Is success always oppressive?
• Would I behave badly if there were no bad consequences?
• Would I steal if there was no chance of being caught?
• Am I the victim of my conscience?
• Do I only try to be good so other people will like me?
• Are there other rewards for goodness apart from social approval?
• What is goodness?
• Is goodness just that which is socially approved of?
• Are actions more or less important than motivations?
• Is pride always a symptom of insecurity?
• Does pride always come before a fall?
• If I’d been alive and living in Germany during Nazism would I have protested?
• What should I be protesting about now?
• Does crime pay?
• Is the only progress in philosophy that it says the same thing only ever more incomprehensibly with ever bigger and bigger words?
• Is it better to be good and unhappy or bad and happy?
• To be or not to be?
• If it’s easier to be bad than good then why not be bad?
• Who can give me the answers to all these questions?
• Is suicide cowardice?
• Is suicide always cowardice?
• Is suicide always a tragedy?
• Do actions speak louder than words?
• Do we always pay for our sins?
• Is it quicker and easier to devise a moral way of life or to purge ourselves of our conscience?
• Is it any better to devise a moral way of life than just to purge ourselves of our conscience?
• Does power always corrupt?
• Is the earth dying?
• Does wrongdoing always injure the wrongdoer?
• Is wrongdoing wrong because of its affect on others or because of its affect on the wrongdoer?
• Are religious and sexual experiences the same thing?
• Does a death represent a fundamental rupture?
• With every death does the world make itself anew?
• With every death does a new world begin and the old world continue so that the worlds multiply unendingly?
• When I die will I keep on living but in a world where everyone else has died?
• Are we all separate or we just superficial variations in the structure of a single organism?
• Are humans the only creatures that exist inside themselves?
• Where is the border between those creatures with consciousness and those without? Ants? Dogs?
• If humans are the only creatures with consciousness then where did this capability arise from?
• Could consciousness have suddenly happened when our brains reached a critical mass?
• Is the difference between humans and other animals qualitative or quantitative?
• When does a human life start?
• When does a human begin to have consciousness?
• Is self-deception possible?
• Do I have an unconscious?
• Does pornography exist or is it just erotica that is not to everyone’s taste?
• Is pornography disrespectful to women?
• Is any portrayal possible without stereotyping?
• Is rape about power or sex?
• Does looking at pornography lead men to rape women or are the types of men that enjoy pornography the types of men who enjoy rape too?
• Can you long for something never experienced?
• Is nostalgia a dream of the past or of a future possibility?
• How can we long for a God that doesn’t exist?
• Is the existence of religion a proof of the existence of God?
• Why do we fear death?
• How can you fear something that is unavoidable?
• Does a fear of death imply that in the past we were immortal?
• Is the universe expanding?
• Is the universe infinite?
• How can anything be infinite?
• What was there before the big bang?
• Is there a completely separate four-dimensional universe occupying the same space as us?
• Is there a smallest particle?
• Is there life after death?
• Does a non-existence of God mean a retreat into solipsism or total pragmatism?
• If there is no transcendent realm then does that mean that we already know everything as a hidden truth must have somewhere to hide?
• If human beings collectively already know everything then do I personally know everything?
• What happens to knowledge that is forgotten?
• If humans are collectively some kind of data storage bank of all truth then are hidden truths held in this storage bank unconsciously?
• What is the difference between the unconscious and the transcendent?
• What is the difference between this data storage bank and God?
• Does the non-existence of a transcendent realm imply that the world and the sum of knowledge is completely static?
• Is continuity simply an illusion as we jump from one completely static situation into the next?
• Is the idea of present, past and future just a convenient labelling system to organise the contents of my head?
• Did I have a completely different set of memories five minutes ago?
• How can a feeling or an experience arise that has no connection with the truth?
• Do I experience the earth as round?
• Do I experience relativity or the uncertainty principle?
• Do I feel like mostly empty space with a few sub-atomic particles buzzing round in it?
• Why don’t I feel like mostly empty space with a few sub-atomic particles buzzing round in it?
• Why does science have no relationship with my experience of the world?
• Does it just take a few hundred years for the lived experience of a human being to catch up with scientific knowledge?
• Will humans in two hundred years, say, feel themselves to be mostly empty space with a few sub-atomic particles buzzing round in it?
• Does this mean that humans in two hundred years will confidently be able to walk through walls?
• If God exists and is all powerful then is everything possible because God can do whatever he wants?
• If everything is possible then does truth or knowledge have any meaning?
• Is a way out of the void impossible because the implications of an existence or a non-existence of God exactly the same unbounded vertigo?
• Is one person’s loss always another one’s gain?
• Can we ever judge ourselves objectively?
• Can a friendship between artists survive when one friend is becomes more successful than the other?
• Is a selfless joy in the success of others really possible?
• Are there people who genuinely have no personal ambition?
• Is it wrong for people to have children when they are older than the normal child-bearing age as they’ll die when the child is younger and leave it alone?
• If life is always uncertain and full of unpredictable tragedy then is short-term personal gratification the only relevant criteria for decision making?
• Is an attempt to lead any kind of ethical life just an attempt to avoid accepting the vagaries of cruel fate?
• Is the attempt to lead an ethical life the only thing that makes us human?
• Is it ethical to scientifically intervene when you are unable to have children?
• If any scientific intervention to enable reproduction is ethical then when does some intervention become too much?
• Is it ethical to use anonymous sperm donation to conceive a child?
• What is love?
• Does love really exist?
• Is eating meat murder?
• Are experiments on animals justified when there is a clear scientific purpose?
• Is euthanasia ever a good idea?
• Should we have the right to choose our own deaths?
• When does a life become not worth living?
• Can a life ever become not worth living?
• Is it ethical to screen pregnancies for disabilities so disabled foetuses can be aborted?
• Is there a difference between aborting a foetus because it's disabled or aborting a foetus because it's female?
• Can the injustices of the past ever be repaired?
• Am I responsible for crimes committed by my country?
• Should there be national boundaries?
• Should people be allowed to live in whatever country they want to?
• Do I have an obligation to my parents for giving me life?
• Should I be obliged to support my parents in their old age?
• Should they be obliged to support me if I need it?
• Are there family ties based on biology or is it all shared experiences or social conditioning?
• Is it possible to really understand someone from another culture?
• Is there any virtue in hard work?
• Is there consciousness outside language?
• If I could jump into someone else's head and experience the world as they do, would it seem familiar to me?
• Do I have hidden depths?
• Am I a constantly changing surface that builds itself anew at every moment?
• Is my past snatched away from me at every moment?
• Can the crimes of post-colonialism ever be repaired? Do the descendants of the colonialists have any right to stay in the land that their ancestors stole?
• If time gets slower and slower for an outside observer looking at something falling into a black hole then are black holes infinitely bright?
• Is it possible to be so selfless that you can be genuinely pleased when someone else gets something that you want for yourself?
• Is there a difference in believing in science that I can't directly experience and believing in God?
• How can electrical/chemical impulses in my brain turn into thoughts?
• If nothing was touching my body would I still be able to feel it?
• If thought is just electrical/chemical impulses then why can't trees and rocks think?
• What's the difference between things that are alive and things that aren't?
• Can something be said to exist when no-one is there to look at it?
• Is madness to the brain like jaundice to the liver?
• Why do I think I can control my thoughts and moods when my liver function is absolutely out of my control, even though the brain and liver are both organs?
• Why do we think there's virtue in hard work?
• Is everything over and above survival superfluous and a waste of time?
• Does everyone deserve compassion?
• Should we stand by and watch and allow others to make mistakes if that's what they want to do?
• Do we share a language or are my perceptions of words completely different to yours?
• Do we have perceptions in common or just a convention of how we talk about them?
• Are there some instances where violence can only be met with violence?
• Is it possible to waste money when the whole idea of buying and selling is inherently corrupt?
• If nothing can be proved then I can choose what I want to believe is true and the categories of true and false can have no meaning, but what would happen if one thing could be proved?
• Is it the nature of chaos that everything can happen there, so you can always find order if you look hard enough?
• Is causality just an illusion but we always see it because our brains can only function in that way?
• Is it part of being human to expect catastrophe or are things really getting worse?