I suggest looking at three ways of thinking prominent in non-western philosophies that might alert us to aspects of our own that have been squeezed too much into the background and could benefit from being given more attention. Once we do that, we can recalibrate, putting more emphasis on the values that have been neglected and less on those that have come to carry too much weight. If that helps us to a more compassionate, less adversarial politics, all the better.
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Everyone likes to think they are open-minded. However, even those of us that actively invite different ideas rarely allow them to set up home. In the past I found this depressing. Now, I’m not so down on our apparent resistance to change. In short, I’ve changed my mind about changing minds.
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At the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Monday I thought I would have a break from talking about my own ideas when I took part in a discussion about Nietzsche’s aphorisms. What i discovered was that, in fact, when talking about Nietzsche’s aphorisms, or anyone else’s, exploring what you think is the whole point.
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Nervous States sits at the intersection of ongoing debates about post-truth, the assault on reason, the privileging of personal feelings and the rise of populism. The book stands out for its sincere attempt not simply to lament these trends but to understand them.
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You could never call Plato overrated. He was clearly a genius of sorts. He set the terms of philosophical debates that have run for millennia and many of his own positions have lasted as long, albeit with revisions. But on virtually every point that mattered he was disastrously wrong, and his errors entrenched fundamental mistakes that would hamper philosophy and intellectual culture forever more.
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