Talk:Ted Honderich

deficient
This article is grossly deficient. From it you would have no idea that Honderich ever did anything significant in the philosophy of mind or on the issue of free will, and one gets little notion of Honderich's work in political philosophy. In other words, very little is said about his work as a philosopher or anything else that he ever did before he began showing up in the news in 2002-2003.

NPOV? I don't think so ... Charles Matthews 16:53, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've replaced the original content by something at least explaining what this is all about (in the external links - which now include something critical of Honderich).

Charles Matthews 20:15, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

"grossly deficient" continues to apply. At the very least, in order to have some understanding of Honderich's thinking about political violence, you need to discuss his Principle of Humanity. So, the claim above that you've explained "what this is all about" hardly is accurate. What the article should do, even if it focuses exclusively upon political violence or terrorism, is provide greater context. Honderich did not start thinking about political violence in 2001. He frames the question of political violence in terms of the question whether there could be such a thing as terrorism "for humanity"--but you can't discuss that without discussing the Principle of Humanity.

A more informed entry would have to include, at the very minimum, an account of that principle. It might be interesting as an encyclopedia article also to mention how the principle used to have a different name, and why Honderich changed it....

And his thinking includes issues in the philosophy of mind as well as political philosophy, so there too, the article is not exactly informative.

Mark Lovas July 2006


 * I'd be happy to have a go at filling in some of the blanks. I do know something about Honderich on mind, determinism, political philosophy and the principle of humanity.  I do think the entry could be expanded to bring it in line with some other entries on living philosophers.  I'll get started, and I'd welcome whatever feedback or advice anyone has for me.  I'm a bit new to this. Pottedplant 11:36, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

I've done some research and I'll get going on the entry today. Again, if anyone has advice I'd be grateful. Pottedplant

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 04:29, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Edit request
Wikipedia entry on Prof. Ted Honderich. The following editing proposed by Ted Honderich of seriously outdated entry after publication of three further books etc.

(1) Right side panel with photo. Main Interests edit: Mentioned first should be: Consciousness

(2) Introductory paragraph, top left edits: Delete from 1st sentence: and Visiting Professor University of Bath Change part of 2nd sentence to: ...five things: consciousness and mind, including the consciousness-brain relation; right and wrong in the contemporary world particularly with democracy, terrorism and war; advocacy of the Principle of Humanity; determinism and freedom; particular problems in logical analysis and metaphysics; the supposed justification of punishment by the state; the political tradition of conservatism. Add last sentence? He has given lectures and talks in British, continental European, Irish, American, Canadian, Asian, Russian, and African universities.

(3) Contents edit: As a result of change proposed below, Put Consciousness before Determinism and Freedom, these now to be (2) and (3).

(3) Biography edits: Change 2nd sentence to: the logical positivist and Grote Professor A. J. Ayer Change later sentence to: He was visiting professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Yale, and the universities of Bath and Calgary. Change next sentence to: books and articles on such subjects as consciousness, determinism, qualia, functionalism, timings of sensory experiences, psychophysical intimacy, Change 2nd last sentence to: ...Royal Institute of Philosophy, where he inaugurated the annual lectures subsequently published as Philosophers of Our Times. He is married....

(4) Next two sections; change order of Consciousness section and Determinism and Freedom section. Put new Consciousness section below first rather than second.

(5) Consciousness new section Delete whole existing section and replace with: Honderich's theory of consciousness in the long book Actual Consciousness and the precis-book Your Being Conscious is What? Where? replaces entirely his philosophy of mind in A Theory of Determinism: The Mind, Neuroscience and Life-Hopes and the precis-book How Free Are You?. The new theory derives from a database to the effect that being conscious, figuratively speaking, is something's being actual. This issues, by way of (a) speculation that disagreement about consciousness is significantly owed to no adequate initial clarification of the subject matter, and (b) examination of five leading ideas of consciousness and existing theories of consciousness, and (c) a specification of the objective physical world, into the wholly literal theory or analysis of the nature of consciousness called Actualism. It distinguishes three sides of consciousness: (1) perceptual consciousness -- consciousness in perception, (2) cognitive consciousness, and (3) affective consciousness. In each case the theory satisfies the two primary criteria of explaining what is actual, and what its being actual consists in. In the case of perceptual consciousness what is actual is only a subjective physical world out there. I.e. being perceptually conscious is essentially or primarily a state of affairs external to the perceiver. Its being actual is its being subjectively physical, which is specified. In the case of cognitive and affective consciousness, what is actual is representations, internal to the conscious thing, and their being actual is their being subjectively physical, differently so from subjective physical worlds. Actualism argues, further, that it satisfies further criteria better than other existing theories of consciousness including one of subjectivity, individuality or personal identity, and that it is relevant to desires for human standing that are the motivation of beliefs in free will as against determinism. Actualism has been received as a new and arguabletheory by philosophers who have previously declared the urgent need for one. A predecessor of the theory is discussed by 11 others philosophers in Radical Externalism: Honderich's Theory of Consciousness Discussed, ed. Anthony Freeman, Imprint Academic. (6) Determinism and Freedom section. Change first words to: In A Theory of Determinism and in the precis-book How Free Are You?, Honderich expounds.... Delete last sentence of section: 'The theory is summarised in....'

(7) The Principle of Humanity section. Change sentence in part to: '...nor of course the claim that the ends justify the means.'

(8) Punishment section. Leave as is.

(9) Conservatism section. Leave as is.

(10) Controversy section. Leave as is.

(11) Other Writings section Leave as is.

(12) Selected Publications section Begin with three recent books: Actual Consciousness. Oxford University Press, 2014. Your Consciousness is What? Where? forthcoming Philosophers of Our Times, ed., 2015, Royal Institute of Philosophy Annual Lectures

(13) External links Put Honderich website at UCL first.


 * Response - This material lacks references and is completely uncited. It cannot be included without those, per WP:SOURCE.--FacultiesIntact (talk) 04:08, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 07:43, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050315085555/http://www.counterpunch.com/honderich02192005.html to http://www.counterpunch.com/honderich02192005.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050302042423/http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij02282005.html to http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij02282005.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100213070202/http://thethirdestate.net/2009/11/an-interview-with-ted-honderich/ to http://thethirdestate.net/2009/11/an-interview-with-ted-honderich/

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