Philosopher Julian Baggini fears that, as we learn more and more about the universe, scientists are becoming increasingly determined to stamp their mark on other disciplines. Here, he challenges theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss over ‘mission creep’ among his peers
ReadOur culture often seems determined to abolish failure, not by improving the way we do things but simply by getting better at finding reasons to see defeats as victories. All manner of things that used to be classified as failures are now recast as something else: an E is a low pass grade; a business bankruptcy an invaluable learning opportunity. Our motto has become, “If at first you don’t succeed, try to pretend you have.” So, paradoxically, we have become both intolerant and too tolerant of failure, accepting its manifestations by refusing to acknowledge it for what it is.
ReadThe question I wanted to chew over with the chief executive of the Soil Association, Helen Browning, is whether “organic” as we have known it has had its day. For all the good the movement has done in challenging the most egregious practices of modern industrial farming, take any key issue on food and farming today and you will find that it’s never simply a case of conventional bad, organics good, or even better.
ReadIn the latest microphilosophy podcast I talk to the author of The Virtues of Our Vices Emrys Westacott about how the moral importance of everyday actions and the rightness of wrongness. The discussion was recorded live at Foyles bookshop in association with the Bristol Festival of Ideas.
ReadIn aesthetic matters, saying that it is only a matter of opinion that Gustav Mahler is better than Bob Marley is at least democratic and non-elitist. But when you take that to its logical conclusion and say that Prokofiev is objectively no better than David Hasselhoff, the eye of the beholder is exposed for the unreliable organ that it is.
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