Distraction has many benefits. Shifting our conscious attention away from what we are working on can often lead to new insights or ideas. The very willingness to be distracted reflects a kind of openness to what is going on around us that is part of having a curious, inquiring mind. In contrast, I often find people who monomaniacally keep their focus on just one thing quite disturbing.
ReadDemanding too much security for our beliefs is to demand the impossible. We have to accept that what we believe might be false, what we do in good faith might be wrong, what we take to be most real might be an illusion. At the same time, we must do our best to get as close to the true, the good and the real as we can. Philosophically, we are always walking a tightrope, thinking without a safety net.
ReadSometimes what is needed is not balance but someone really to rock the boat.
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.
ReadThose 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.
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