Category Archives: Philosophy & Ethics

ON THE RIGHT TO HAVE RIGHTS

March 11, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the contemporary significance of Hannah Arendt’s concept of ‘the right to have rights’, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the dispute at Parkfield Community School over teaching about gays.) It was published in the Observer, 10 March 2019, under the headline ‘Human rights mean nothing unless we defend real, threatened people’. ‘The right to have rights.’ It’s 70 years since the philosopher Hannah Arendt coined that luminous phrase in an essay in […]

Categories: Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: citizenship, discrimination, hannah arendt, human agency, human rights, immigration, lida maxwell, refugees, right to have rights, rights, struggling

SHAMIMA BEGUM AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

February 18, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate over Shamima Begum, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the BBC’s attitude to abortion.) It was published in the Observer, 17 February 2019, under the headline ‘The possibility of redemption is central to a humane society’. How do you solve a problem like Shamima? In February 2015, 15-year-old east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum travelled to Syria with two friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, to join Islamic State. Last […]

Categories: Britain, Philosophy & Ethics, War on terror • Tags: citizenship, ethics, islamic state, islamism, jihadi returnees, jihadism, moral responsibility, morality, sajid javid, shamima begum

LEONARDO’S ETHEREAL LINES

February 2, 2019 by Kenan Malik

It is in his drawings, even more than in his paintings, that you truly glimpse the greatness of Leonardo da Vinci. It’s in his drawings that you see the depth of his curiosity, the breadth of his imagination, and the heights of his technical accomplishments. His studies of human anatomy, in particular, still astound. What is particularly extraordinary is his ability to meld scientific precision with a sensuous imagination that makes you look at, and think about, the human body […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: art, leonardo da vinci

THE POLITICS OF THE SPACE RACE

January 7, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the politics of the space race from Sputnik to Chang’e-4, was the main article in my Observer column this week. It was published in the Observer, 6 January 2019, under the headline ‘Power politics always drives space conquest. China’s coup is no different’. Nasa had rejected it as too difficult and costly an undertaking. Last week, China declared ‘mission accomplished’ after landing a spacecraft, Chang’e-4, on the far side of the moon. It was a remarkable endeavour. As the […]

Categories: International, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics, Science • Tags: chang'e-4, china, cold war, john f kennedy, moon landing, nasa, soviet union, space exploration, space race, sputnik, usa, yuri gagarin

WHO WILL GIVE SHAPE TO DISAFFECTION?

December 10, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the gilets jaunes protests, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on MSF being forced to end its rescue operations in the Mediterranean). It was published in the Observer, 9 December 2018, under the headline ‘A fear of cultural loss is fuelling anger with elites across Europe’. ‘Can we borrow him?’ Gary Lineker asked in April of the ‘charismatic, smart and ballsy’ Emmanuel Macron. The BBC presenter was far from alone in being […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: austerity, centrism, disaffection, emmanuel macron, far right, france, gilets jaunes, left, protests

A PLAYLIST FOR PETE SHELLEY

December 7, 2018 by Kenan Malik

What is it that links Big Mama Thornton’s ‘Hound dog’ to Sam Cooke’s ‘(What a) wonderful world’ to the Kinks’ ‘You really got me’ to the Supremes’ ‘You can’t hurry love’ to Toots and Maytal’s ‘Pressure drop’ to the Undertones’ ‘Teenage kicks’ to Prince’s ‘When doves cry’ to the Buzzcocks’ ‘Ever fallen in love (with someone you shouldn’t have)?’? It’s one of those strange questions that popped into my head this week after the death of Pete Shelley. Shelley was […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: buzzcocks, music, pete shelley, pop songs, punk

WHERE DOES THIS BULLY GET HIS IDEAS FROM?

December 3, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on an assault on a Syrian refugee schoolboy, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the CRISPR baby). It was published in the Observer, 2 December 2018, under the headline ‘I know all about being bullied by racists. That’s the Britain I grew up in’. I cannot recall ever being ‘waterboarded’. But nor can I recall many days when, as a schoolboy, I did not return home without a bruised lip […]

Categories: Britain, Philosophy & Ethics, Race & Immigration • Tags: british politics, hostile environment, immigration, racism, racist attacks, refugees, social media, theresa may, tobias ellwood

ON THE ETHICS OF CRISPR

November 30, 2018 by Kenan Malik

Last week, the Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the first CRISPR baby (actually, twins). Two beautiful little Chinese girls, Lulu and Nana, came crying into the world as healthy as any other babies a few weeks ago’, He said in the first of five videos posted on to YouTube. He’s claim is as yet unverified, but if true, it would signal a landmark moment in human genome-editing. It has also been widely met with outrage and condemned […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics, Science • Tags: bioethics, biotechnology, china, chinese science, crispr, ethics, gene editing, genetics, genome editing, germline editing, he jiankui

THE SCANDAL OF THE WORKING POOR

September 17, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the ‘working poor’, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on hypocrisy and the Church of England). It was published in the Observer, 16 September 2018, under the headline ‘Welfare was meant to help the poor, not subsidise exploitative employers’. It will mean fewer jobs. That was the chorus from many on the right, from Tej Parikh of the Institute of Directors to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in response to […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: austerity, british politics, conservative party, gig economy, john mcdonnell, labour party, matthew desmoond, poverty, working poor

TREASON, OBLIGATION AND TRUST

July 30, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate about treason laws, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 22 July 2018, under the headline ‘If we want to build trust in society, a new treason law is no way to do it’. Does the crime of treason have any meaning today? A new report from the Policy Exchange thinktank, Aiding the Enemy, insists that it does. Britain’s current laws on treason are unfit for purpose and should be updated. An updated law, […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: british politics, dissent, free speech, freedom struggles, morality, policy exchange, treason, usa

DESIGNER BABIES AND DYSTOPIAN VISIONS

July 23, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate about genome editing, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on being banned in Pakistan, a shorter version of my previous Pandaemonium post) It was published in the Observer, 22 July 2018, under the headline ‘Fear of dystopian change should not blind us to the potential of gene editing’. ‘Designer babies on horizon’, ran the headlines. Last week, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body advising on […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics, Science • Tags: bioethics, biotechnology, crispr, designer babies, dystopia, ethics, gene editing, genetic enhancement, genetics, genome editing, gremlin editing, ivf, louise brown, Nuffield council

HOPE AND FEAR IN A WORLD OF UNCERTAINTY

July 16, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the meaning of hope, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 15 July 2018 under the headline ‘The Thai cave rescue was born of hope, an instinct that sustains and drives us’. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.’ So reads the inscription above the entrance to Hell in Dante’s Inferno. There must have been times over the past two weeks when it might have seemed the inscription to the entrance to the Tham Luang […]

Categories: Human, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: hope, human nature, seneca, thai cave rescue, tham luang caves, viktor frankl

THE SUPREME COURT AND SOCIAL CHANGE

July 9, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate about Donald Trump’s judicial pick for the Supreme Court, and what it tells us about the relationship between courts, democracy and social change, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on an exhibition in Florence on the Islamic influence on European art.) It was published in the Observer, 8 July 2018, under the headline ‘The law, whether in the US or UK, can’t change society if we resist’. […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: democracy, donald trump, judicial activism, judicial system, justice, law, roe v wade, scotus, supreme court, usa

DEBATING HUMANS AND MACHINES

June 25, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on what the remarkable achievement of IBM’s ‘Project Debater’ tells us about the differences between humans and machines, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the persecution of the Roma.) It was published in the Observer, 24 June 2018, under the headline ‘Machines may beat us in debate, but will they ever have the human touch?’ So, a machine can now not only demolish you at chess or devastate you […]

Categories: Human, Philosophy & Ethics, Science • Tags: a1, Human, ibm, machine, meaning, project debater, semantic networks, social

‘TROUBLE IS AT THE HEART OF WHAT WE DO’

May 18, 2018 by Kenan Malik

Last week Pater Mayer died. He was a giant of the publishing industry. An American, he was in 1978 given the job of rescuing the venerable British publishers Penguin, which then had become almost defunct. He turned it into a global brand, and a major force in publishing. He transformed publishing in India by founding of Penguin India. Ten years later came the event that was to define both Mayer and Penguin. In September 1988 Penguin published Salman Rushdie’s The […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Free Speech, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: ayatollah khomeini, fatwa, free speech, islamism, penguin books, peter mayer, publishing, rushdie affair, salman rushdie, the satanic verses