What embarrasses us also tells us a great deal about how we want others to see us. This can be surprisingly revealing. It shows that no matter how much we strive to be our own people, it is hard not to crave the approval of others.
ReadThe refusal to give up stolen artefacts seems even stranger when you consider that there is one set of objects that everyone agrees should be returned: anything seized by the Third Reich. In 2009, parliament passed the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act, which forms the basis of the Indian plaintiffs’ case. It seems there is one law for Nazi loot and another – or rather none at all – for the colonial variety.
ReadOne of the problems raised in the book is Mill’s now famous question about whether it is better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. We might equally well ask if an imperfect example of something daringly original is superior to a perfect example of something more mundane. How you answer that will determine whether you prefer the honourably flawed A Good Life or the more routine competence of less ambitious philosophers.
ReadUniversities and other bodies that stand for values worth defending diminish their prestige if they effectively sell off parts of themselves to the highest bidder. Of course you cannot stop philanthropists gaining in stature because of their gifts. But there is a difference between bathing in a reflected glory that shines without cost and being deliberately singled out in a floodlight, which is what the granting of naming rights does.
ReadIn the crude Manichean world view that has come to characterise political discourse today, you are either a skiver or a striver, someone who contributes to society or is parasitic on it. All parties claim to speak for “hard-working families”, the only people whose interests need defending.
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