User:Martin Cohen

I am a well-established author specialising in popular books in philosophy, social science and politics.

I was involved in a research project at Leeds University under George MacDonald Ross into ways to shift philosophy teaching in the UK away from its tradional approach of treating the subject as the study philosophical facts, towards a view of philosophy as an activity. In this context , my two books 101 Philosophy Problems and 101 Ethical Dilemmas (both Routledge) which have been translated into numerous languages, but to be sure NOT French (French philosophy swims determinedly in its own small pond) have been part of a general shift in the way information is presented and treated, in which, of course, the Internet is playing a major role.

Internet encylopedias like Citizendium are an important part of that shift in knowledge dissemination, and as Wikipedia has shown, can both distort and prejudice debates and stifle free discussion. CZ offers a chance for those with a more humanist and 'scholarly' agenda to participate. It's early days, but not only is the CZ project worth supporting, much more than that, it NEEDS to succeed!

My most recent books include an accessible reference work, the Essentials of  Philosophy and Ethics (Hodder 2006) and a radical political survey of the world structured as a travel guide: No Holiday: 80 Places You Don't Want to Visit (Disinformation Company). He has also written a book on Thought Experiments for Blackwell (Wittgenstein's Beetle, 2004), a history of Political Philosophy (Political Philosophy from Plato to Mao, second edition 2008), and an 'anti-history' of  'great philosophers (Philosophical Tales (Blackwell, 2008).