Between the established and the settled in philosophy lie the border-zones of thought: not mere geopolitical lines or physical boundaries, but spaces of transition, uncertainty, and liminality. As Michael Bavidge highlights,

“The borders I have in mind are not lines of demarcation (not walls, checkpoints or lines on maps). They are stretches of territory—spaces of transition, trade and uncertainty—between more self-contained and settled regions.”

Michael Bavidge nudges us toward reflecting on experience, language, expression, and meaning from positions that are deliberately “in-between” rather than within a fixed or unified framework. At these edges, thinking opens new possibilities, letting unforeseen philosophical insights surface.

Michael Bavidge was a lecturer in philosophy at Newcastle University. He worked at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, and then on the Philosophical Studies Programme at the university. He has written on psychopathy and the law, pain and suffering, and animal minds. In 2019 Bigg Books published a collection of his essays, Philosophy in the Borders. He is the President of the Philosophical Society of England, the charity which sponsors The Philosopher.

Ian Craib is a retired Canadian public servant with interests in ethics, philosophy of science, and the sciences of human behavior. He holds an MA in Philosophy from Carleton University (1982).