Philosophy Blog
Michael Davis, Wellington, New Zealand
Michael is an architect, working in New Zealand, where buildings can be subject to sudden earthquakes. How do you create structures that will withstand abrupt lateral and vertical movements? And how do you strengthen existing buildings to preserve life in the event of a big quake? What about the School’s building? Read on to understand more about these challenges; this is necessarily quite a technical article. Michael is a senior student in Wellington, shown here in front of the School building in Wellington.
By Andrew Stewart-Brown
A ratio is a relation between two numbers. It is not a physical object but an abstract one.
Our senses of hearing and sight are able to apprehend the ratio between two sense impressions. When we hear an octave sung or sounded, we experience a distinct pleasure. Our ears are a measuring instrument but do not flash numbers on a screen for us.
Instruments which do so, tell us that in an octave the number of vibrations per second of the lower sound is half that of the higher. A simple ratio of vibrations such as 1 : 2 is pleasant to the ear whereas complicated ratios sound discordant. To a certain level of accuracy, the eye is also able to detect ratios and see that that one length is, say, twice the length of another.
Our other senses can tell us of ‘more or less’ of the qualities they detect.
Dr Charmaine Zammit, Malta
Charmaine is an artist who lost interest in producing art objects for exhibitions and buyers. Instead she wanted to help others appreciate and create art. After years of academic studies, and while serving as a Head of Department for Art in state schools, she started a doctoral research. Working with people using art was enlightening and in turn, she also experienced transformation through art. Charmaine is a philosophy student in Malta.
By Ian Mason
The Waterperry Economics Retreat 2025 convened in the first week of February under the headline ‘Justice and the Real World”. The idea being, to consider what some of the greatest philosophers had to say about justice and consider how their ideas might apply in today’s world.
A talk given by Mr Donald Lambie at the School in Cape Town on 01 December 2024
The Upaniṣads are a collection of ancient teachings which hold the Advaita teaching. Advaita means ‘one without a second’ and the Upaniṣads, from many years ago, hold the essence of this teaching. One of the Upaniṣads, the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, expounds the word Om and what I am going to talk about is based on this.