“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
“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
“The optimist underestimates how difficult it is to achieve real change, believing that anything is possible and it's possible now. Only by confronting head-on the reality that all progress is going to be obstructed by vested interests and corrupted by human venality can we create realistic programmes that actually have a chance of success.” BelieveHumansRealRealityDifficultInterestChanceProgressAchieveRealisticUnderestimateOptimistProgrammesConfrontingAnything Is PossibleReal ChangeVested Interests Author:Julian Baggini
“If we find it hard to believe that winning millions might not be so lucky after all, we just don't have a good enough imagination. If I fantasise about winning the lottery, it doesn't take long before all sorts of worrisome potential consequences occur to me.” IfsBelieveLongHardEnoughMightWinningImaginationMillionsLuckyConsequenceGood EnoughLotterySo LuckyHard To BelieveWinning The Lottery Author:Julian Baggini
“Most people believe, more or less, that the value of a human life is the same, irrespective of where on the planet it happens to find itself. But, of course, not every life has the same value for us.” PeopleBelieveHumansHappensLife IsValuesCoursesPlanetsHuman Life Author:Julian Baggini
“You don't choose what you believe moment to moment, but choices you have made do shape what you come to believe.” BelieveMadeMomentsChoicesShapes Author:Julian Baggini
“I don't believe in God because certain reasons and arguments weigh more heavily in my mind than others, not because I have willfully decided to reject my creator, as many religious people seem to think. I could no more simply decide to believe in God than I could decide to like beetroot, just like that.” PeopleThinkingMindBelieveReasonSeemsCertainReligiousArgumentDecidedDon't BelieveCreatorRejectsBelieve In God Author:Julian Baggini
“If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.” IfsShouldBelieveDealsCasesSeriousIf You BelieveObjections Author:Julian Baggini
“Prayer provides an opportunity to remind oneself of how one should be living, our responsibilities to others, our own failings, and our relative good fortune, should we have it. This is, I think, a pretty worthwhile practice and it is not something you can only do if you believe you are talking to an unseen creator.” IfsThinkingShouldBelieveOpportunityPrayerResponsibilityTalkingPracticeFailingFortuneOneselfCreatorRelativeWorthwhileUnseenGood FortuneIf You BelieveResponsibility To Others Author:Julian Baggini
“Traditional arguments for the existence of God and contemporary attempts to use fine-tuning and cosmology to back up the case for his existence always strike me as kinds of games, since hardly anyone believes on the basis of these arguments at all.” BelieveKindUseGamesExistenceCasesFineArgumentBasesStrikesContemporaryTraditionalCosmologyExistence Of GodTuningFine Tuning Author:Julian Baggini
“Whatever your religious persuasion, if you believe that the universe is governed by benign forces, at some point you have to explain why there is so much suffering, misfortune and misery in the world.” IfsWorldBelieveSufferingUniverseForceReligiousMiseryMisfortunesPersuasionIf You BelieveBenign Author:Julian Baggini
