1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910480805203321

Autore

Baggini Julian

Titolo

The Edge of Reason : A Rational Skeptic in an Irrational World / / Julian Baggini

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, CT : , : Yale University Press, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

0-300-22208-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (273 p.)

Disciplina

128/.33

Soggetti

Reason

Rationalism

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- PART I: THE JUDGE -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. The Eternal God argument -- 2. Science for humans -- 3. Rationality and judgement -- PART II: THE GUIDE -- INTRODUCTION -- 4. Lives of the mind -- 5. The challenge of psychology -- 6. Guided by reason -- PART III: THE MOTIVATOR -- INTRODUCTION -- 7. Rational morality -- 8. Scientific morality -- 9. The claims of reason -- PART IV: THE KING -- INTRODUCTION -- 10. The rational state -- 11. Political reason -- Conclusion: using reason -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

An urgent defense of reason, the essential method for resolving-or even discussing-divisive issues Reason, long held as the highest human achievement, is under siege. According to Aristotle, the capacity for reason sets us apart from other animals, yet today it has ceased to be a universally admired faculty. Rationality and reason have become political, disputed concepts, subject to easy dismissal.   Julian Baggini argues eloquently that we must recover our reason and reassess its proper place, neither too highly exalted nor completely maligned. Rationality does not require a sterile, scientistic worldview, it simply involves the application of critical thinking wherever thinking is needed. Addressing such major areas of debate as religion, science, politics,



psychology, and economics, the author calls for commitment to the notion of a "community of reason," where disagreements are settled by debate and discussion, not brute force or political power. Baggini's insightful book celebrates the power of reason, our best hope-indeed our only hope-for dealing with the intractable quagmires of our time.