Thinking of Answers - Hardcover

A.C. Grayling

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408805987 ISBN 13: 9781408805985

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

The essays in this book, drawn mainly from A. C. Grayling's columns in Prospect, the Dubliner and The Times, are in fact responses to questions set by editors and readers. If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality? Are human rights political? Can ethics be derived from evolution by natural selection? If both sides in a conflict can passionately believe that theirs is the just cause, does this mean that the idea of justice is empty? Does being happy make us good? And does being good make us happy? Are human beings especially prone to self-deception? As in his previous books of popular philosophy, including the best-selling The Reason of Things and The Meaning of Things, rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers instead suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question, and arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection.

About this title

About the Author

A.C. Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a multi-talented author. He believes that philosophy should take an active, useful role in society. He has been a regular contributor to The Times, Financial Times, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Economist, Literary Review, New Statesman and Prospect, and is a frequent and popular contributor to radio and television programmes, including Newsnight, Today, In Our Time, Start the Week and CNN news. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum at Davos, and advises on many committees ranging from Drug Testing at Work to human rights groups.

From Booklist

Unlike many other academic philosophers, Grayling cares too much about philosophy to leave it in the classroom. Indeed, as he applies the philosophic habit of mind to the issues arising in ordinary life, he opens remarkably expansive horizons. To be sure, only careful analysis can sound the depths of the larger questions engaged: Can humans ever reach objective truth, or does truth finally disappear in a welter of individual perspectives? What is the source and meaning of personal identity? But even casual reflection on relatively small matters—such as smoking and tanning—can yield surprising insights. Scornful of all forms of dogmatism, Grayling disavows any intention of definitively settling the controversies he visits in this array of diverse short pieces (first published in various popular journals): he simply aims to stimulate thought, inviting readers to revise or even reject his views. Because the author repeatedly echoes the antireligious diatribes of Dawkins and Hitchens, among others, devout readers will welcome the invitation to develop their own line of reasoning. A bracing miscellany. --Bryce Christensen

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1408805987
• ISBN 13: 9781408805985
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352