Welcome to my site!
Browse the free notes for students, philosophical questions, books on philosophy, religion and ethics, and examples of my travel photography. Click any book cover for more information.
A single click, from the index, will take you straight to particular notes, books, subjects and arguments.
All change, please!
Nothing lasts forever in the digital world, so please note that mel-thompson.co.uk has now departed this online life, along with its email address. Everything is now based on essexthinker.com , with essexthinker as my name on X and Facebook and mel@essexthinker.com as email. I definitely live in Essex, but 'thinker' may possibly transgress the Trades Description Act!
Light, sandstone and centuries of water erosion - that's what it takes to produce the swirling colours of Lower Antelope Canyon in Arizona. I'll be posting some images soon.
My latest additions to this website...
Return of the anthropic perspective!
The original 'Notes for Students' on the Anthropic Principle and Argument are a reflection on whether or not you can use an anthropic argument to demonstrate the existence of God. But now there's something very new and different, because a form of anthropic argument gave shape to Stephen Hawking's final cosmologiocal theory, as described in Thomas Hertog's book On the Origin of Time (2023). This is fascinating for both the Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Religion and effectively blows the lid off many arguments between atheists and theists. My comments on it are to be found, along with the original notes, here.
The Logic of Divine Impotence
If there is one single thing that inclines me to atheism, it is the logic of divine impotence and the wriggles that some theists use to avoid it. Read more.
(This short article about God is also relevant to those studying 'miracles' and 'the problem of evil')
My next 
book...
'God' is a strange word, standing for very different things - from the gods of Ancient Greece to the philosophical quest for reality itself, and from a cultural legacy in literature, art and music to existential questions about the meaning of life.
But what can 'God' mean today, in a secular and humanist society? Is it inevitably linked to supernatural ideas or to religion? If both disappear, will it still have meaning?
I'm doing battle with this book, determined to be absolutely honest, and to get it finished and published in 2024.
Click here for more information and to read an article related to this subject, originally published in The Philosopher magazine.
Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72)
If you've always thought of Feuerbach as an atheist who saw God as no more than a projection of humankind's best qualities, think again. He's a remarkable thinker, and worth reading if you are interested in what the idea of 'God' can mean in today's secular world.
Here are some of my notes on The Essence of Christianity, 1841.
Thinking of self-publishing?
I run Brimstone Press, a self-publishing, not-for-profit cooperative, helping you to self-publish in an environment of shared expertise and support. Take a look!
Nietzsche craved the high alps; Heidegger his mountain hut. Where do you go for inspiration?
A place? A person? A career? An aspiration? Something to work towards or escape from? What is 'home' for you?
My latest book asks the most fundamental of all questions: Where do I belong?
Starting with Nietzsche's challenge to find meaning in a directionless universe, it explores the way we map out our personal worlds to create a sense of home.
From the orientation of temples in the ancient Near East, to the danger of being treated as no more than a customer or voter in an atomised world, it examines the importance of personal space and what we do with it.
Available from Bookshops or Amazon, from only £1.99 / $2.99
Why 'Philosophy and Ethics'?
I believe it is important to explore fundamental existential questions. Who am I? What is the purpose of life? What should I do? How can I find and promote happiness? How should I relate to those around me and the natural world? Such questions are crucial, urgent and universal, whether they are asked from a religious perspective or a secular one.
I take a broadly secular and humanist approach, but have been, at different times, both an ordained Anglican and a practising Buddhist. If you think that's weird, just read 'About Me'!
In June 1916, two remarkable religious thinkers found themselves on opposite sides of the battle of Verdun; for both the experience was uniquely formative, but they responded to it very differently. It transformed their ideas of God, their careers and their lives.
A German Lutheran chaplain and a French Jesuit stretcher bearer, although separated by only a few hundred yards of mud and barbed wire, tried to cope with, and make sense of, that horror of death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. They – Paul Tillich and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin – reflect a century of thinking about religion, politics, humanism, existential angst and the global future.
It's the story of two men and their struggles with religious belief, but also of the whole way in which ideas about God and religion have been shaped and re-shaped during the last hundred years.
Paperback £7.99 / $11.50 | Kindle £1.99 / $2.99
Click here for more information and a sample.
Fancy a trip to Bali? Click the image to see some of my travel photography, or here for the whole range of destinations. check
