John Hartley is a schoolteacher in North London and a part-time doctoral researcher at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge. His research focuses on the philosophy of religion and the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. John has served in local government, representing his hometown of Droitwich Spa. He holds a Bachelor's degree from Regents Theological College, a Master's in Theology from Maryvale Institute, a Licentiate in Divinity validated by the Faculté Notre Dame de Paris, and a Postgraduate Diploma from Birmingham University.
Website: http://johnhartley.uk
by John Hartley With CAPTHCHA the latest stronghold to be breeched, following the heralded sacking of Turing’s temple, I propose a new standard for AI: The Tolkien test. In this proposed schema, AI capability would be tested against what Andrew Pinsent terms ‘the puzzle of useless creation’. Pinsent, a leading authority on science and religion…
by John Hartley “Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible.” Noted the Russian novelist Fydor Dostoevsky, “God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.” When 18th century Scholars used anthropology, physiognomy, and phrenology to apportion value according to race and beauty, clearly something has gone terribly wrong. Yet…
by John Hartley How does Leonardo’s masterpiece, arguably representative of the fatal juncture of Western Art, provide the philosophical basis for pornography? And how does the lost work of an obscure German painter seek to correct what Pavel Florensky called ‘dis-integrated personality’? In 1888, Georg Cornicelius, a relatively obscure German artist known primarily for his…
by John Hartley “To err is human,” observed the poet, Alexander Pope. Yet, why do we consciously choose to err from right action against our better judgement? Anyone who has tried to follow a diet or maintain a strict exercise regime will understand what can sometimes feel like an inner battle. Yet why do we…
by John Hartley One wet January I happened to attend a meeting of the Newman Association – a Catholic group concerned with ecumenism. Long tailbacks on the motorway meant the guest speaker, making his way from Birmingham, was delayed. When Archbishop Bernard finally appeared an hour later, I was deep in conversation with my neighbour,…