Philosophical Ridings:
Motorcycles and the Meaning of Life

Price: £9.99 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-85168-520-2
ISBN-10: 1-85168-520-0
Publication date: June 2007
Oxford: Oneworld Publications
210 pages

A semi-popular book presenting important philosophical issues from the perspective of a motorcyclist: the value of human life and the nature of our interaction with the world; the nature of death; the extent to which the state can legitimately interfere with human freedom and punish wrongdoers; the status of non-human animals; our obligations towards the environment, and the nature of works of art.

"Craig Bourne succeeds wonderfully in uniting his passions for philosophy, biking and bad puns. Not only an introduction to a whole range of philosophical problems, this excellent little book is also a meditation about motorbiking and the life of a biker."
Derek Matravers, Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Open University. He rides a Kawasaki GT750

A Future for Presentism

Presentism, the view that only the present exists, was a much-neglected position in the philosophy of time for a number of years. Recently, however, it has been enjoying a renaissance among philosophers. A Future for Presentism is meant as a timely contribution to this fast growing and exciting debate.

After discussing rival positions in the philosophy of time, in Part I: The Presentist Manifesto, Craig Bourne shows how presentism is the only viable alternative to the tenseless theory of time. He then develops a distinctive version of presentism that avoids the mistakes of the past, and which sets up the framework for solving problems traditionally associated with the position, such as what makes past-tensed statements true, how to give the proper semantics for statements about the future, how to deal with transtemporal relations, how we can meaningfully talk about past individuals, and how causation can be accommodated. Part I concludes with a discussion of the direction of time and causation, the decision-theoretic problem known as 'Newcomb's problem', and the possibility of time travel and causal loops. In Part II: Presentism and Relativity, Bourne focuses on the problems for presentism raised by relativity theory. He begins by giving a self-contained exposition of the concepts of special relativity that are important for understanding the later discussion of its philosophical implications. The last two chapters explore the philosophical implications of certain cosmological models that arise from general relativity, namely the expanding models, which seem to represent our universe, and Gödel's infamous model, which allows us to take a journey into our future and arrive in our past. The necessary physics is explained with the aid of diagrams, throughout.

Price: £30.00 (Hardback)
ISBN-10: 0-19-921280-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-921280-4
Publication date: December 2006
Oxford: Clarendon Press
264 pages, 216x138 mm

'Bourne's done it again with a masterpiece of fretboard wizardy that we've come to expect from this virtuoso axe-slinger' says his mum. Strange Beautiful Music is Bourne's interpretation and arrangement of some of Joe Satriani's best guitar music. The album was recorded using his Steve Vai Ibanez Jem 7 lead guitar, complete with ebony fretboard and pearl 'tree of life' inlays (see 'Resources' section), a 5-string headless bass, a telecaster rigged up to a Roland guitar synthesizer, Roland V-Drums, some effects by Korg and Boss, including a Boss V-Wah pedal, and all recorded on a Boss multi-track recording studio. 'The Roland/Boss products are sheer ace-ness. I love those guys!', said Bourne when we managed to track him down. 'This is the ultimate in widdley-widdley guitar music', said everyone we talked to who had heard it.

The Lord of the Rings: truth or lies? Actually, both. I was rather worried that that the common misconceptions about Fellowship rituals would be perpetuated. Thankfully, though, the screenplay sticks rather closely to the truth. The only inaccuracy is that each Fellow has his own ring, just big enough to fit around your wrist. During the admission ceremony, each Fellow lines up in order of seniority and displays their ring to the new Fellow, who then proceeds to squeeze his or her fist into it. It isn't clear what the origins of this ritual are, but for the new Fellow it certainly served to increase the circle of his friends. Nowadays, such practices are only routinely carried out in Oxford, but I've been told Magdalene also upholds the tradition.

You'll recognise some familar Fellows' faces in the official photos of the event (see right). The medallion around my neck recognises our Foundress's (St Catharine) greatest invention (the wheel), which by all accounts was the best thing since the great philosopher Fred Hovis's revelation that sandwiches are much more manageable using parts of a loaf rather than two whole ones. This was also the birth of mereology.

The weapons and horses allude to the twice termly running battles that take place along King's Parade between the Fellows of Trinity and Peterhouse on one side and every other College on the other - apart, of course, from Jesus, which has remained neutral on this issue ever since one of their horses was so cruelly shoved into a vat of scolding tar and unceremoniously dumped on one of their lawns. I believe it is still there.

Matt Damon plays Craig Bourne in a new high-octane adventure thriller directed by Doug Liman.

Bourne: "When Doug came to me with the screenplay of my year out, I was quite flattered. The response has been amazing; I haven't been myself since. Some say it does nothing more than romanticise my exciting lifesyle. But what can I say: it is what it is."

We provided a rare insight into Bourne's brains by asking: What is it like to be Craig Bourne?

Formative years: I grew up in Bavaria until I was nine. As a teenager I think I was old for my age - probably because I had to leave home early. My parents worked for the NHS, you see, and they needed the bed. Also my three brothers - Air, Still and East - used to get teased at school. It was tough. But I knew my luck was changing when I became Haven Holidays Horseshoe-Pitching Champion two years running. It was then that I turned to Philosophy. Starsign: Wolf. Favourite colour: Grue. Favourite philosopher: It's between Peter Ustinov and Harry Stottle. Least favourite secondary quality: Any unsolicited olfactory kind. Best memory: When Return of the Jedi came out, there were street parties. George V came out to see it, and we were all given a silver sixpence with a picture of Queen Victoria on one side and a picture of Jabba the Hutt on the other.

Scientists in Alaska have found a gap between the horizon and the earth. The gap, which is nine miles across, is believed to have been caused by recent storms which tore the horizon from its moorings. A team of civil engineers has now set off to lash down the horizon with steel.

After an extensive survey of the best bookshops in the country, we are able to announce the top three to be found on the shelves in the philosophy section of our most loved second-hand and remainder bookshops:

1.  Causing Death and Saving Lives, Jonathan Glover
By far the most well-known book in the world of second-hand booksellers. Famed for helping medics and lawyers think about 'issues', this is sure to continue doing the market-stall rounds.

2.  Existentialism, Mary Warnock
Following her past success in these charts with Ethics since 1900, Warnock follows up her work The Philosophy of Sartre with a classic introduction.

3.  Morality, Bernard Williams
Riding high on the success of Jim and the Indians, Williams develops his thought in this classic bedtime read.

Other notable were: Ethics; An Introduction to Ethics; The Concept of Mind; The Philosophy of Mind; The Metaphysics of Mind; The Very Best of the Mind; Mind and Brain; Mind and Language; Mind, Language and Brain; Mind, Mind and Brain, and Now that's what I call the Philosophy of Mind (Vol. 22).

Doubts have been raised concerning the identity of Sir Walter Scott.

On a recent visit to the Edinburgh memorial, Craig Bourne wonders whether Scott really was the author of Waverley.

The NHS executive for London, Dr. Ovflosfy, announced today that four London teaching hospitals, including Guy's and St. Thomas's, will begin the first human trials in a pioneering technique that could help thousands of patients every year in the UK. The trial, being led by a team of leading transplant surgeons, will test a new procedure in which a patient is transformed through reflection in a vertical plane. Prof. Phil McKrackin, who is leading the team, explains the new developments: “the operation is quite safe and we believe that it will provide real benefits to patients.” Previous trials of similar procedures in Sweden and the US have shown few benefits for sufferers. However, Prof. McKrackin is confident about the prospects of the new British tests: “it is true that other teams working on affine transformations have had inconclusive results when assessing benefits to patients, but we believe that our use of reflection, rather than translation and rotation which were tried by the teams in Stockholm and New York, will make a real difference to patients' quality of life.” The first surgical trials begin in August 2003.