Five recent references to philosophy (mostly from the New Statesman)

Colette photographed by Madame d'Ora

James Ryerson's long article on Wittgenstein's influence on David Foster Wallace

James Ryerson's note on the late Philippa Foot

Snippets from Baroness Mary Warnock's interview in the New Statesman: 'You can't pretend that Bach wrote his religious cantatas out of anything other than profound Protestant belief'; 'Morality comes from our common human nature'; 'Rights are too legalistic a concept to be the foundation of morality.' In response to the question whether we're all doomed: 'Probably - but it will be after my time.'

From the New Statesman's article on Ricky Gervais: 'Science, Gervais says, was his first love, then philosophy, which he studied as an undergraduate. The rigours of both disciplines, he says, inform his material: logical investigation and rational inquiry.'

The New Statesman`s interview with Daniel Kehlmann: `Yes, I come from philosophy. I could never have become an original philosopher, but I was always interested in philosophy and I studied it. And I'm still very much concerned with ideas and how they interplay with human beings. There is a certain sort of comedy that arises out of the clash between lofty ideas and the banal realities of life.`