Ethics – Page 81 – Julian Baggini

The philosophy of dieting

January 20, 2014 Julian Baggini Food

I sit here now humbled by both my personal failings and the inherent difficulties all humans have in taking charge of the one thing of which they are supposedly sovereign: their own bodies. My only consolation is that humility, so long as it does not descend into pointless self-loathing, is a virtue. No one becomes a lesser human being by becoming more aware of their limitations. While it would be wrong to become apathetic in the face of them, it is only by fully knowing the limits of our powers that we can make the most of the ones we have, and perhaps even learn how to increase them.

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Can we be both content and motivated?

January 20, 2014 Julian Baggini The Shrink and The Sage

Say of some people “they’re never satisfied” and you mean that they are miserable no matter what happens and are unable to make the most of the good things they have. Say this of an artist, however, and you need make no assumptions at all about how jolly they are – you simply understand that they always strive to be better. Sometimes it is precisely because there is more that can be done, improvements that could be made, that people remain in love with their work and rise at each new dawn with fresh enthusiasm.

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Is it OK to do nothing?

January 13, 2014 Julian Baggini The Shrink and The Sage

Many battles are not worth fighting, even though our cause is just and our enemies in the wrong. The world is unfair and, if we cannot accept that fact, we will often end up further disturbing the peace of ourselves and others.

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Move your money

January 1, 2014 Julian Baggini Articles & Essays

Mutuals offer a realistic vision of a better society that we can create without a revolution, without even an alternative model to the market economy. Capitalism is not the problem, it’s the actors in the capitalist system.

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Are good intentions enough?

December 28, 2013 Julian Baggini The Shrink and The Sage

Sometimes intentions don’t count for much, but they almost always count for something. We’re likely to be angrier at a person who meant harm and succeeded than one who meant well but failed. However, it seems we’re not consistent in how we decide what people intended…

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