North West Humanists – Preston
NORTH WEST HUMANISTS – PRESTON, 4 NOVEMBER Giving a talk on learning from monks, then on panel for humanist question[…]
ReadAuthor: Julian Baggini
Hell is Other People – Gateshead
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE – SAGE, GATESHEAD 3 NOVEMBER Taking part in a panel discussion as part of Radio Three’s[…]
ReadHumane confrontation
It is the policy-maker’s job to work out solutions to problems. The writer’s role is to direct the reader to the most important problems and make them worry about them. So it does not matter that some of Sven Lindqvist’s past pessimism, about third-world debt and ozone depletion for instance, have not been borne out. “I am not a fortune teller,” he said, and nor should any artist pretend to be.
ReadThe lessons of fasting for atheists
It might seem odd but I, a convinced atheist, have recently completed a 10-day fast based on the Hindu festival of Navratri, which is being celebrated this week. These days, if we limit what we eat, it is almost certainly because we are trying to lose weight, detox or realise some kind of health benefit. The idea that we might seek to forgo certain foods for moral improvement seems bizarrely anachronistic.
ReadShould we run away from reality?
Regular readers might have noticed that I often talk about confronting reality as though that were a good thing. Could it not be a philosopher’s bias to assume that it is better to live in the gloomy shadow of dark truths than in the artificial light of pleasing falsehoods?
Read