If I hammer my own thumb while doing some DIY, it's not nice, but it's not the end of the world. To care obsessively about similar levels of discomfort in animals seems to be a case of mistaken moral priorities. Julian Baggini More Quotes by Julian Baggini More Quotes From Julian Baggini If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly. Julian Baggini serious should believe I don't believe in God because certain reasons and arguments weigh more heavily in my mind than others, not because I have willfully decided to reject my creator, as many religious people seem to think. I could no more simply decide to believe in God than I could decide to like beetroot, just like that. Julian Baggini religious believe thinking To become a stoic is to endorse the truthfulness of its world view and accept its prescription for how you ought to live, not just to like how it makes you feel. Julian Baggini stoic views world Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality. Julian Baggini hospitality meals guests The border between the natural and the supernatural, religion and philosophy, may not always be clear. But there are lines and we should know and accept which side of it we are on. Julian Baggini lines borders philosophy If philosophy is to be a valuable part of life, we have to appreciate it for its own sake, and not just for what it's done for us lately. Julian Baggini appreciate done philosophy Waiting is so unusual that many of us can't stand in a queue for 30 seconds without getting out our phones to check for messages or to Google something. Julian Baggini google phones waiting Trying to keep up with health advice can feel like surfing the Net for weather forecasts: what you find is always changing, often contradictory and rarely encouraging. Julian Baggini surfing weather advice If we now find ourselves looking down on the cheap and convenient, it is only because we now have better things which are affordable. Julian Baggini looking-down affordable convenient Too often, complaint is not about principled objection on moral grounds, but opportunistic objection on grounds of self-interest. To rectify this, we need to work on mastering the art of complaint. Julian Baggini self art needs This is the deal: we are happy to single out people as superior just as long as they don't accept the description themselves. We want heroes and idols but we also want egalitarianism and that requires proclamations of humility from our Gods. Julian Baggini humility idols hero Indeed, without emotion it seems unlikely we can even have morality. Julian Baggini unlikely morality emotion Philosophy is at its most engaged when it is impure. What is being recovered from the Ancient Greek model is not some lost idea of philosophy's pure essence, but the idea that philosophy is mixed up with everything else. Julian Baggini essence philosophy ideas It is true that legality is not morality, and sticking to the law is necessary for good citizenship, but it is not sufficient. Julian Baggini citizenship morality law It's not leftovers that are wasteful, but those who either don't know what to do with them or can't be bothered. Julian Baggini leftovers bothered knows I am only me for practical purposes. Julian Baggini practicals purpose Truth and Truthfulness is an ambitious work, and its journeys into history give it a breadth unusual in these days of increased academic specialization. . . . William's book combines real history and fictional constructs to tell a revealing story that makes us reconsider the meaning of familiar concepts. Julian Baggini real journey book Anger clearly has its proper place at work, which is neither wholly absent nor ever present. The manager who is an emotional blank is just as hard to work for as the volcanic boss, and both can do great harm by setting an unhelpful example for what kind of emotional expression is expected and accepted. Julian Baggini boss emotional expression Nature deals the cards without thought or care, and there is no point in blaming the dealer. All we can do is make the best of the hands we have been dealt. Julian Baggini care cards hands Wellbeing is a notion that entails our values about the good life, and questions of values are not ultimately scientific questions. Julian Baggini wellbeing good-life notion
