Do we need a sense of humour?
Life is absurd, and we can’t change that. But we can decide how to respond to that absurdity: with a wailing and gnashing of teeth, with steely defiance, with laughter, or some combination of all three.
ReadTag: Reason & rationality
Must challenge mean confrontation?
The intellectual modus operandi in Britain is one of adversarial conflict. In the debating chambers of Oxbridge, the high courts, the nation’s parliament, and even news programmes, good, rigorous debate is equated with polarised, confrontational discussion. To argue well is to win, to agree is to concede, and to refuse to come down clearly on one side or the other is to be woolly and evasive. No wonder then that the typical Brit is unable to distinguish between a legitimate challenge that deserves consideration and an outright attack that needs to be repelled.
ReadHow free are we?
A necessary illusion is likely to contain an unavoidable truth. In the case of free will, that truth is that human beings do things for reasons and are able to modify their behaviour on the basis of argument and evidence. Is that free will? You decide.
ReadHow we eat and what we eat
Too much of the received wisdom about good eating is based around a list of foods we should avoid. But knowinghow to eat – with balance and moderation – matters much more than making lists of what we should or should not eat.
ReadDo we need to focus?
I’m glad that some people have a narrow focus and so spot the important details generalists miss. But there should be more space for those who attempt to join the dots. We need both close-ups and landscapes, a wide and narrow focus, if we are to see all that needs to be seen.
Read