Quotessence
Home / Authors / Julian Baggini Books
Julian Baggini

Julian Baggini Books

Author

Atheism

A source page for quotes linked to Julian Baggini.

0 quotes

Related Quotes

“To a certain extent all philosophers have been involved in a systematic questioning that undermines confidence and certainty. Philosophy as a whole unleashed skeptical forces which, outside of the tightly controlled environment of a rigorous philosophical debate, led a lot of people to throw their hands up in despair and think 'what's the point?'. A lot of the public perception of philosophy is that it leaves you with no answers, and more confused than you were at the beginning.”

PeopleThinkingPhilosophyEnvironmentDespairPerceptionPhilosophicalPhilosopherDebateCertaintyConfusedQuestioningSkeptical
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“There have been a number of philosophers who have reveled in the dismantling of truth. I think they did so with good ethical motives, and for good philosophical reasons. I can see the sense in what they were talking about; the idea that truth is often claimed by elites in order to further certain agendas. They crowd-out alternative perspectives - particularly those of the powerless. But the undermining of truth contributed - in the weird, indirect way that philosophy contributes to the culture - to a rejection of the idea of truth as having any kind of proper meaning at all.”

ThinkingKindReasonPhilosophyCulturePerspectiveTruth IsPhilosophicalPhilosopherMotiveRejectionEthicalPowerlessIndirect
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“I don't think there is ever a direct connection between the philosophical community and the wider populus. I'm very aware of this because I've been working on a book on ideas in global philosophy and you always find some kind of relation between the dominant philosophies in a culture and the folk philosophy but it's not a straight-down dissemination. It's partly bottom-up. Thinkers are the products of the cultures they grew-up in. They aspire to thinking purely objectively and universally, but they are often reflecting ways of thought that are embedded in a culture.”

ThinkingKindBookPhilosophyCultureCommunityDirectRelationPhilosophicalThinkerEmbedded
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“A lot of religious belief - even the majority - involves making factual claims about the world which do come into conflict with science and history. For Christians, a test of this is the Empty Tomb. I ask Christians: 'are you saying that it does not matter - as a matter of fact - whether or not Christ's tomb was empty and that he was resurrected?' At that point, I find that, to a lot of them, it really does matter, despite all the fine talk about not wanting to confuse science and history with religion.”

WorldChristianBeliefReligiousConflictEmptyMatter Of FactReligious BeliefFactual
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“People seem very arrogant when they say 'I'm right and you're wrong', but in practice we all believe we're right. We have a staggering arrogance in our own belief. That can be tempered by not being 100% certain; by being provisional. No matter what the debate is, very few people have the modesty to suspend judgement on a whole range of things; most intelligent people have an opinion and are expected to have an opinion by other people - but it always requires making a personal judgement that goes way-beyond your expertise. We do it all the time.”

PeopleBelieveBeliefOpinionIntelligentDebateJudgementArroganceArrogantModestyExpertise
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“I think the appropriate kind of skepticism is this: you've got to be asking questions all the time, you've also got to make sure that you're doing so in the spirit of genuinely wanting to find the answers - and that also means being open. I battle with this: I know I tend to be very skeptical and as a result, I veer towards the dismissive. But being aware of the tendency, I like to challenge my own skepticism and make sure it's not just knee-jerk. You need to be skeptical towards yourself as well. When you're only skeptical outwards you've got an unbalanced skepticism.”

ThinkingKindMeanSpiritChallengesBattleSkepticismSkeptical
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“Talking about creating truth tends to alarm people, because truth is meant to be 'just out there'. It doesn't take much thinking to appreciate that we sometimes change truths on the ground - sometimes just by words. A new law will change what is possible. I think - perhaps because the paradigm we follow tends to be scientific, and all about discovery - the creative element of truth is one upon which we don't focus so much attention. This is particularly so in anglophone philosophy, perhaps because we associate it too much with those 'pernicious' continental trends.”

PeopleThinkingSometimesPhilosophyAttentionCreativeFocusTruth IsAppreciateMeant To BeParadigm
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“In the case of Donald Trump I think you've got to accept that a lot of what's going on in political discourse is based upon judgement. How the economy works - how people work - what will come to pass - what will not come to pass - what is possible - what is not possible. There is this whole modal dimension. There's a lot in politics that is making a judgement about what might be and can be and would be. Trump frightens a lot of people but there is a bizarre possible world in which it turns out as he's vindicated, though most of us think the evidence is against it.”

PeopleThinkingWorldPoliticalAcceptingEconomyEvidenceJudgementBizarre
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“If I'm a CEO and I say, 'Misogyny will not be tolerated', that's a more powerful statement than 'It is my sincere hope and our intention to eradicate misogyny from this company'. Sometimes saying things in that more categorical form, has a real function. Although, if you dig beneath it, it is actually one of J.L. Austin's illocutionary acts; you're trying to make something happen rather than describing something already happened. The fact that it has the grammatical form of a description is fine.”

TryingRealSometimesPowerfulIntentionThings HappenSincereMisogynyCeo
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“I'm not one of these people who is sour about academia. I'm very lucky not to be in academia, but I am an absolute parasite. While I was writing my book on comparative philosophy I was drawing on some fantastic scholars - university based people. The academy is absolutely necessary, but there should also be a role for those bringing it together. It's such a frustration sometimes.”

PeopleWritingBookSometimesPhilosophyTogetherLuckyFantasticFrustrationScholar
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“Wasn't it Bertrand Russell who used the phrase 'The superior virtue of the oppressed'? There is always this temptation amongst people that see themselves as progressive, and on the side of the weak. They demonize the powerful, but over-romanticize the weak. I think we should recognize that. If you take seriously the idea that people are always going to use truth claims as a means of powering their own agenda, that is going to happen whether you're weak or powerful.”

PeopleThinkingMeanPowerfulVirtueWeakTemptationProgressive
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“Once Steve Fuller said that there is this idea that your responsibility as an intellectual is just to speak the truth as you see it. But actually, you should be more appreciative of what needs to be said. I don't think that's ever an excuse to say something you don't believe is true - but sometimes the emphasis has to be different. Well, if I'm talking to an audience of hardline atheists, I'll be trying to unsettle them a bit more, whereas, if I'm speaking to an audience of believers, I'll be giving them more of the pros of atheism. It's about having a sensitivity to context.”

ThinkingGivingTryingBelieveDifferentSometimesSpeakResponsibilityAudienceAtheismIntellectualAtheistExcuseBelieverSensitivitySpeak The TruthAppreciative
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“For most people their ideal life involves an intimate relationship with another person; one which often has a sexual basis. But there's no logic about it; why shouldn't people choose to live together with someone they just like? 'Of course' if we were too unquestioning about it, and we said 'well, that person has got to be someone of the opposite sex, and it's got to be for life, and divorce is terrible', then we're stuck. But if you don't recognize the importance that kind of bond has for human beings - you can't really understand what is needed to live a good life.”

PeopleKindTogetherLogicImportanceDivorceStuckIntimateGood Life
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“Some of my understanding of what philosophy and ethics is has changed very slowly. One thing that has changed is this for quite a long time I bought-into the idea that philosophy is basically about arguments. I'm increasingly of the view that it isn't. The most interesting things in philosophy aren't arguments. The thing that I think is underestimated is what I call a form of attending. I think that philosophy is at least as much about carefully attending to things as it is about the structure of arguments.”

ThinkingLongPhilosophyUnderstandingInterestingChangedEthicsArgumentMost InterestingUnderestimated
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image

“I think that internet technologies are making everything so transparent. The arms race of deception and spin against the public trying to keep up with it - I think the forces of spin have to lose. In the corporate world people are finding this. Corporate social responsibility has been on the agenda for a very long time - and a lot of people say it's a kind of green-wash or white-wash - but because there's nowhere to hide anymore, people are coming around to the realization that the only way to be seen to be good is to be good. You can't fake it.”

PeopleThinkingWorldTryingKindLongResponsibilityTechnologyInternetBe GoodRealizationDeceptionFakeSocial Responsibility
Author:Julian Baggini
Create image