How do we best help others?
The kind of philanthropy most of us practise is little more than the sharing of leftovers, not something that requires us to give up anything we value.
ReadTag: Ethics
nef Perspectives
ORGANISATION: NOUN OR VERB? I was interviewed for a piece in this new series by nef consulting, an arm of[…]
ReadWhy morality is fashionable again
It has finally been accepted that we can’t function without values. (Indeed, the very project of avoiding moral judgments itself rests on the firm belief that they are wrong.) But the suppression of morality-talk has served another very good purpose: the language itself is being used differently, as if it needed time in retreat in order to purge itself of its puritanical associations. It left the stage muttering about people shagging each other and strode back on later lamenting how the privileged are screwing the masses. Look at how the uses of moral language have been pressed into service in recent weeks and you’ll find that they do not concern mere private behaviour but the point at which individual actions have consequences for wider society. Morality has recovered its political dimension.
ReadCan happiness be measured?
Can we measure wellbeing scientifically? Economist Richard Layard, supporter of the new national happiness index, believes we can; philosopher Julian Baggini is having none of it.
ReadBlackwell’s Book Podcast
“On this week’s programme we have two guests: Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, the eponymous shrink and sage, whose unique brand of self-help with a distinctly cerebral flavour is a regular feature in the FT Weekend magazine. Antonia Macaro is the shrink, an existential therapist and philosophical counsellor with many years’ experience. And Julian Baggini is the sage, the founding editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine and the author of numerous successful works of popular philosophy, some of which we have previously featured on this programme. Together they aim to bring the insights of philosophy, psychology and therapy to bear on some of the big questions we all grapple with at times in our daily lives.”
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