Science – Page 11 – Julian Baggini

The problems of describing mental illness

April 23, 2014 Julian Baggini Articles & Essays

We are often told that there is still a stigma surrounding mental illness. It is therefore strange that the England cricketer Jonathan Trott was stigmatised for allegedly not having one. Trott left the England tour of Australia in November citing a “long-standing, stress-related condition”. But when he gave an interview last month explaining that he was burnt out rather than depressed, the former England captain Michael Vaughan said that he felt “a little bit conned”, saying, “When I hear players talking about burnout, I suspect it is an excuse.”

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How free are we?

February 17, 2014 Julian Baggini The Shrink and The Sage

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.

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Battle of Ideas

December 28, 2013 Julian Baggini Asides, Videos

SOUL ON THE SLAB VIDEO. A film of a discussion at the 2013 Battle of Ideas with Bill Durodié, Geraint Rees and Sally Satel, with chair Claire Fox.

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Review: The Brain Sell

October 22, 2013 Julian Baggini Articles & Essays

The clearest evidence that neuromarketing is not such a game changer is that all the key techniques used to package and sell the book itself predate any insights that the brain sciences may have brought. If even David Lewis has to rely on the same old methods tried and tested by people who wouldn’t know a synapse from a neuron, then neuromarketing may indeed be new and improved, but not quite as much as we are led to believe.

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Why do I always do that?

October 22, 2013 Julian Baggini The Shrink and The Sage

Over-generalising is a basic human need. Little wonder then that we are quick to apply “always”, even to ourselves – whom we imagine to be more consistent and coherent than most of us actually are.

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