“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
“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
“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
“When you try to translate any kind of real-life problem into a neat logical form, you're almost always simplifying it. We need a kind of blend - we need to use not just tools of logic, which are important and valuable - I'm not denying that, but also tools of judgement, and of inductive and abductive reasoning which can also inform.” TryingKindImportantProblemLogicValuableJudgementLogicalTranslateNeat Author:Julian Baggini
“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
“I just think that the skepticism about truth has almost completely flipped - from being something associated with generally left-leaning progressives to being something which is a tool of right-wing populists and demagogues. I think a lot of those people writing books ten years ago would now think those books are no longer needed, they've kind of been vindicated.” PeopleThinkingWritingKindBookSkepticismWriting A BookPopulist Author:Julian Baggini
“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
“Anger clearly has its proper place at work, which is neither wholly absent nor ever present. The manager who is an emotional blank is just as hard to work for as the volcanic boss, and both can do great harm by setting an unhelpful example for what kind of emotional expression is expected and accepted.” KindHardCan DoExampleEmotionalExpressionHarmExpectedAcceptedSettingSettingsManagersBossBlankAbsentEmotional Expression Author:Julian Baggini
“It is often said that having gone through any kind of suffering tends to makes you appreciate life more and live more in the present. I'm not sure how universal or long-lasting these effects really are.” KindLongSaidSufferingGoneEffectsAppreciateUniversalNot SureLastingAppreciate LifeLong Lasting 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
