About James Head

About James Head
James Head was born and educated in the UK; and has an honours degree in education from Exeter University. For many years he has been a committed philosopher, and his life now revolves around sharing 'real' Greek philosophy with others. He regularly speaks and writes on the essential ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. James has lived in Greece for many years, in both Athens and Ancient Delphi where he feels 'philosophically at home’. These days he divides his time between Delphi, London and Athens.

Philosophy Walks and Talks in Athens

Philosophy Talks and Walks in Athens, Delphi, London for the last 12 years, and now “online”.

See meetup.com group for bigger audience talks; and James’ Philosophy Talks and Walks for talks for smaller groups and individuals.

Welcome to James' Philosophical Agora - James' Meeting Place On-Line. Blog posts on various subjects follow below. (Scroll down to bottom for links / lables and more.)

Thursday, May 25, 2017

01 Real Sustainability - Lions or Humans ? Snakes and Bees ?

Regarding the environment I want to start a new concept of 'real sustainability', within my broader idea of 'practical philosophy'; where real philosophy includes intellectual but also practical actions by us all so that any intellectual investigations we may pursue have a definite purpose and positive effect in the real world.
While walking on the hillside in Delphi I was reminded of the need for us 'to share the space' of our environment and its finite resources both with one another, and other species.  As I walk along the country paths I tap my walking stick regularly to warn any snakes and other animals to move away as I approach. This is a tiny example of what I mean by 'sharing' the natural space and resources as human beings and with other species. The snakes can, for example, go back to sunbathing on the path again after I have safely passed. However, someone has just put three illegal bee hives right next to the start of the public footpath. I hope that the bees feel the same way about 'sharing space!





It may be that some people or some species (e.g human beings as a whole) will always take a bigger share of resources than others. After all, the by lion eats first from the pride, eats the most, and takes the best pieces for its meal. If human beings are just very evolved animals (i.e. 'total' Darwinism) then we cannot be surprised that some people take more resources than others. BUT - you cannot have it both ways. You cannot expect better ways of sharing to be adopted by more mere evolved animals. You can only expect and hope for that 'if' you think there is a little more to what the human being is that what Darwinism and some scientists suggest with the process of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. This raises questions about what the human being really, whether we have a human soul, and at very least, whether we should expect a species of animal like us to adopt preferable ways of living as individuals and societies that somehow have shades of 'ethics' and a higher spirit within them.

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