Making Sense: Philosophy behind the Headlines - Softcover

Baggini, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192805061 ISBN 13: 9780192805065

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

In Making Sense, Julian Baggini examines the philosophical issues and disputes that lie behind such news stories as the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, the war against terrorism, the siege at Waco, genetically modified foods, and advances in human therapeutic cloning.
Baggini, founding editor of the highly popular Philosopher's Magazine, shows how we can use the techniques of philosophy and the insights of its greatest practitioners to understand the issues behind the headlines. He explains the proper role of philosophy in such inquiries, showing both the limits and the reach of the philosophical analysis of current affairs, and also argues that applying philosophy to news stories can and should inform our wider understanding--what we know, believe, and value.
Baggini covers themes such as war, truth, morality, the environment, religious faith, the ending of life, and the meaning of value. He weaves philosophy and current affairs to create a compelling narrative that challenges how we make sense both of the world around us and of our own beliefs.

About this title

About the Author

Julian has both an academic and journalistic background. He was awarded a PhD in philosophy from University College London in 1997 for his thesis on personal identity. However, he decided not to then embark on an academic career and focused instead on The Philosophers' Magazine. He has published as a freelance, with his reviews and comment pieces appearing in, among others, the Independent, Independent on Sunday, Times Educational Supplement and New Humanist. He also has a regular column in The Skeptic

From Publishers Weekly

A book that uses the techniques and theories of Western philosophy as a way to gain insight into current affairs has the potential to be dry as a piece of unbuttered white toast, but Baggini has penned a wonderfully accessible volume of just that sort. Founding editor of The Philosophers' Magazine, Baggini brings the writings of Nietzsche, Jeremy Bentham (who memorably remarked that the notion of natural rights was "nonsense on stilts") and John Stuart Mill to bear on an engaging analysis of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and the role of ethics in private and public life. Genetically modified food, euthanasia, the role of science in society and even the nature of truth are all subjected to Baggini's rigorous yet readable investigation. Readers will no doubt disagree with some of his conclusions-such as when he asserts, via Kierkegaard, that religious faith should be a "terrifying leap" rather than a "soothing panacea"-but that's part of the whole point. As he writes in his introduction, "I do not intend this book as the last word but as an invitation for more philosophizing to begin."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0192805061
• ISBN 13: 9780192805065
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312