Should we strike a balance?
Sometimes what is needed is not balance but someone really to rock the boat.
ReadTag: Reason & rationality
Thinking Allowed
Free 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.
ReadHow to Build Free Will
Those who despair of free will only do so because they have an unrealistic idea of what it involves. They have a fantasy of a mysterious, pure, free-floating will that acts independently of nature or nurture. They think that the only kind of real responsibility is ultimate responsibility, and that unless we can choose everything from our genders to our personalities to our preferences, we cannot be responsible for what we do.
ReadGray & Grayling reviewed
AC Grayling and John Gray are two of Britain’s best-known public philosophers, consistent and relentless in arguing for their respective world views. There, however, the similarities end. Grayling is the approachable, upbeat carrier of the Enlightenment torch, while Gray is the gloomy critic of uplifting myths of human progress and rationality.
ReadIs confusion good?
Those who cannot accept an absence of order often end up trying to create it, with disastrous results.
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