The hope we might draw from history is that clear-eyed individuals can see beyond what is socially acceptable to what is morally right. If we get used to questioning even what is universally accepted, we might be able to avoid getting used to social norms that are well past their use-by date.
ReadOn Thursday the nation decides. Each one of us will be free to choose how or whether to vote. But if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the findings of modern psychology, you might doubt whether your vote is truly free at all. There is a mass of compelling evidence that all our choices, including our electoral ones, are strongly affected by myriad unconscious and often irrational factors…
ReadSometimes what is needed is not balance but someone really to rock the boat.
ReadWe want the power of choice to entail the power to guarantee the best outcome. We should get rid of that illusion, embrace uncertainty and save anxiety for the choices that really matter.
ReadFree will explored. Laurie Taylor talks to Julian Baggini about his latest work which considers the concept of freedom. He argues against the idea that free will is an illusion due to a combination of genes, environment and personal history. Instead he posits a sliding scale of freedom which allows for the possibility of individual agency and responsibility.
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