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jazzy_daveA.C Grayling "The Heart Of Things" (Phoenix)
Given to me from my brother, this is a collection of a series of newspaper columns, from various publications squashed together as if this makes them more worthy of consideration. Grayling cover a range of topics, but includes the added bonus of a few vinaigrettes about the various famous philosophers of history and what makes them special. Mostly however this is o Grayling offering his unsolicited and unsubstantiated opinion on ethics, which he defines as how to live a good life, in a similar way to the more substantial musings of Montaigne, the French Renaissance thinker. I refer you to Sarah Bakewell's excellent book on him, “How To Live”.
He covers a few topics like war, love and cheating and knowledge which are worth reading.. Grayling often manages to leave the question open with a provocative twist at the end which does succeed in encouraging at least some further thought on the matter.
However this work does also suffer from many failings, namely assumption of 'facts' that are debatable at best. There is one single solitary source quoted in the entire book. The range of themes is broad looking at some of the wider societal considerations, but by nowhere near enough when considering topics such as family planning. There is also massive and unsupported extrapolation from small events to wider conclusions. They may be just, but then again they may be nothing more than cloud castles in cuckoo land, there is no information to say.
The profiles of the various philosophers do more to indicate why their views should be ignored - based in societies hundred of thousands of years removed from our own -, rather than as Grayling seems to be attempting to do, marking them as noteworthy. Definitely not the best philosophy I have read and Slavoj Zizek, although difficult at times, would eat him up for breakfast. In the end a very slight book and thus not recommended.
Given to me from my brother, this is a collection of a series of newspaper columns, from various publications squashed together as if this makes them more worthy of consideration. Grayling cover a range of topics, but includes the added bonus of a few vinaigrettes about the various famous philosophers of history and what makes them special. Mostly however this is o Grayling offering his unsolicited and unsubstantiated opinion on ethics, which he defines as how to live a good life, in a similar way to the more substantial musings of Montaigne, the French Renaissance thinker. I refer you to Sarah Bakewell's excellent book on him, “How To Live”.
He covers a few topics like war, love and cheating and knowledge which are worth reading.. Grayling often manages to leave the question open with a provocative twist at the end which does succeed in encouraging at least some further thought on the matter.
However this work does also suffer from many failings, namely assumption of 'facts' that are debatable at best. There is one single solitary source quoted in the entire book. The range of themes is broad looking at some of the wider societal considerations, but by nowhere near enough when considering topics such as family planning. There is also massive and unsupported extrapolation from small events to wider conclusions. They may be just, but then again they may be nothing more than cloud castles in cuckoo land, there is no information to say.
The profiles of the various philosophers do more to indicate why their views should be ignored - based in societies hundred of thousands of years removed from our own -, rather than as Grayling seems to be attempting to do, marking them as noteworthy. Definitely not the best philosophy I have read and Slavoj Zizek, although difficult at times, would eat him up for breakfast. In the end a very slight book and thus not recommended.
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