Author: Julian Baggini

Why we are so horrified by the razing of Palmyra

Articles & Essays

I’m not suggesting that we should prioritise the preservation of artefacts over the saving of human lives. If I had to choose, I’m sure I’d pull a person from a burning building before a Picasso. But that does not mean to care about the destruction of our heritage is to care about things more than we do people. Rather, it is to care about people as more than just biological things.

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Can generosity go too far?

Articles & Essays

Bristol’s Maitreya Social would seem to be the ideal location to talk to Pater Singer, author of Animal Liberation and one the the world’s most famous moral philosophers. Vegetarian and organic, it is impeccably ethical. You can even settle your bill with Bristol Pounds, the local currency designed to keep wealth out of the hands of multinational businesses and big banks. But according to my guest’s austere utilitarian principles, there is no justification for spending £10.95 on a summer vegetable gallette when people on the other side of the world are dying of malnutrition.

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Can we help the way we feel?

The Shrink and The Sage

Emotions are assumed to be beyond our control, ebbing and flowing in anarchic independence from the rational mind. But if we question the judgments that lie behind our emotions, we will often find that those feelings do, indeed, change. We can help the way we feel, if the way we feel flows from a mistaken judgment that we can correct.

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