The Unfinished Revolution
South Tyneside 1969-1976

The period was one of world-wide political action - involving workers, students, and community groups. Around 1969-1976 South Tyneside, and in particular South Shields, was the unlikely centre for some of these events.

Some with a revolutionary perspective see this as a revolution that failed. Others see this as a period of potential revolutionary change that lost its way - a revolution not so much failed as unfinished.

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Revolution in the 21st Century
A Rough Guide to Revolution for Academics and Activists

This book seeks to provide access to current concepts in social and political philosophy at a popular level and to place ideas of political action in that context.

Consideration is given to those ideas that, it would seem from today's viewpoint, will stamp the character of the coming century. This includes concepts such as postmodernism and existentialism as well as ideas of sociobiology, chaos/complexity theory, cosmological physics and postmodern art.

The book contains many references suitable for further research and the hard-pressed student might find in it a convenient entry to the confusing (and often confused) world of socio-political academia.

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Postmodern Humanism
A Rough Guide to Belief in the 21st Century

CAN WE BELIEVE ANYTHING? Expressions of relativism, with their dismissal of gods, and the transcendent, have dumped us in an intellectual and moral vacuum. We no longer know who we are or what to believe - if, indeed, we can believe anything. This book considers, in a systematic way, the construction of a belief system for the 21st century from the perspective of what has become known as postmodernism.

To address this problem it is necessary to go back to first principles - to examine what 'belief' is. An attempt is made here to show how it is possible, necessary even, to do this from a postmodern perspective and to go on to identify a philosophical framework upon which we can construct our social values.

The book addresses at a popular level (but without dumbing down) some fundamental ideas in philosophy. These ideas are presented in the context of contemporary thought in philosophy, sociology, science, politics and the arts. The basis of a possible Humanist belief system which emerges from such an analysis is identified and the distinctive social values, and ethics (and politics) such a system might deliver are explored.

The North East Humanists welcome this book as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the meaning of Humanism and its relevance in the 21st Century.

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POSTMODERN HUMANISM
A paper delivered to the Newcastle Philosophy Society on the 20th October 2007
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