The secret to happiness? It’s complicated
The old saw that when it comes to news, misery sells, has never looked so dubious. Happiness is hitting the headlines everywhere. But every time, it seems the story is different…
ReadAuthor: Julian Baggini
What Money Can’t Buy
Sandel has raised a much-needed alarm, and even if how we respond to it may not be clear, respond we must. To do so, Sandel argues we need a serious public debate about what values we want our politics to build and defend. That means dropping the illusion that politics is about no more than efficient management of the economy: it’s about nothing less than competing visions of the good society.
ReadIs ego an asset?
When we think about big egos, we tend to think of cocky alphas, those self-satisfied, arrogant cigar-chewing successes – always other people, of course. But forget about individuals for a moment. Does Homo sapiens, as a species, need to have an inflated sense of itself in order to succeed?
ReadDan Dennett interview
Ridicule and misrepresentation are in some sense an occupational hazard for the philosopher. “The best philosophers are always walking a tightrope where one misstep either side is just nonsense,” he says. “That’s why caricatures are too easy to be worth doing. You can make any philosopher – any, Aristotle, Kant, you name it – look like a complete flaming idiot with just a slightest little tweak.”
ReadNight Waves
NIGHT WAVES, BBC RADIO 3. Read a 5-minute essay on the inconceivable on the May 20 programme, which you can listen[…]
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