Philosophy Now

• 1. Founding And Early Years

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  Rick Lewis launched Philosophy Now in May 1991 from his home town of Ipswich, England. The first issue appeared as a quarterly magazine and featured an article on free will by Antony Flew. Flew was then known as an atheist philosopher who would remain an occasional contributor for many years. Peter Rickman soon became one of the most regular contributors to the publication. This initial run established the magazine as the first general philosophy magazine available to the public.

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• 2. Editorial Evolution And Expansion

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  A group of American philosophers including Raymond Pfeiffer and Charles Echelbarger lobbied the American Philosophical Association in 1997 to start a similar magazine in the United States. Eric Hoffman arranged a meeting in Philadelphia that year where Lewis was invited to join forces with the American group. Since that time the magazine has been produced jointly by two editorial boards located in the UK and US. The distribution in the US is handled by the Philosophy Documentation Center. In 2000 the frequency increased to appear bimonthly while Grant Bartley took over editing the print edition. Bora Dogan now edits the digital editions under Lewis's direction as Editor in Chief.

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• 3. Content Structure And Contributors

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  The magazine contains articles on most areas of philosophy written mostly by academics though some come from postgraduate students or independent writers. Regular columnists include Raymond Tallis writing Tallis in Wonderland and Peter Adamson contributing Philosophy Then. For some years there existed a philosophical agony-aunt column called Dear Socrates supposedly written by a reincarnation of the Athenian sage. The publication also features book reviews interviews fiction film columns cartoons and readers letters. An online forum allows discussion of the magazine contents for those who wish to engage further.

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• 4. Notable Controversies And Scoops

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  Antony Flew published a letter in the August September 2004 issue indicating his position regarding God's existence had changed. This news carried worldwide through many newspapers referencing Flew's Philosophy Now letter despite his previous arguments favoring atheism. A 2009 interview with Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor created controversy in Canadian newspapers due to dismissive remarks about an atheist poster campaign on buses. These moments brought significant public attention to the magazine beyond its regular academic circle.

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• 5. Public Engagement Initiatives

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  The magazine organized a philosophy festival for the general public every two years from 2011 to 2020 at Conway Hall in Bloomsbury central London. The first festival in 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of the magazine's launch before becoming a regular biannual event held in 2013 2015 January 2018 and 2020. Each festival was a one-day event involving contributions from more than a dozen philosophy organizations including Philosophy For All and the Royal Institute of Philosophy. In 2011 the magazine launched an annual award called the Philosophy Now Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity. Mary Midgley won the first award while Cressida Cowell became the first children's author to receive it in October 2015.

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