How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy

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Reading this book aloud in the car, discovering gems together over Kopi and Roti Prata, letting a stranger skim through it just before the start of a lecture, discussing it with my boss after a workshop, trying to explain its gist to a curious 7-year-old. These were my favourite memories of reading this one. A Tayto sandwich is an absolute favourite in Ireland, so much so that it’s almost impossible to recreate outside of the Emerald Isle unless you can somehow get some Tayto and Brennan’s Bread sent to you. At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking about us at all.

How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy

But, as with the other surveyed questions, this varies significantly across countries. We see this in the map. In some countries, very few respondents disagreed: less than 1% in Bangladesh and Egypt; 2% in India and Ethiopia; and 3% in China, Germany and the UK. Ancient Greeks often wondered whether non-Greeks could do philosophy. Some thought the discipline had its origins in the wisdom of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Some counted itinerant Scythian sages or Jewish preachers as philosophers. Others said no: whatever the intellectual merits of neighbouring peoples, it is a distinctively Greek practice. A new, angrier version of that ancient debate has arisen amid the culture wars of the last 50 years. Is philosophy an exclusively western phenomenon? Or is denying it to non-western peoples a form of neocolonialism? Or does the imperialism lie, rather, in folding non-western thought into a western category? Difficult questions, and the answers are not always obvious. The journalistic nature of the book, and how he goes to interview experts on these particular cultures But there is a concerning finding which is hidden when we look only at agreement and disagreement to the questions in the Global Monitor. There are a few reasons to read this moderately-sized work from Julian Baggini on philosophy from around the globe, and a few more reasons not to read it.Offering deep insights into how different regions operate, and their commonalities as well as their differences, Baggini shows that gaining greater knowledge of how others think is the first step to a better understanding of ourselves" In other countries, that’s just completely nuts, and we should watch our Ps and Qs when we travel, just in case. 2. Drink copious amounts of tea – we love the cupán tae Credit: Pixabay / @TerriC

How The World Thinks – Julian Baggini How The World Thinks – Julian Baggini

This is a stark result for Venezuela in particular (although perhaps unsurprising) since the availability and coverage of child vaccination has fallen significantly over the last few years. How he prioritises bodies of thought which are written down and more rigorously debated and argued (hence Asia being prioritised over Africa and Oceania). The assumption that autonomous reason will inevitably lead to progress also fosters a dangerous complacency among academics, who often baulk if asked to say how their work benefits wider society. The logic of secular reason would answer that if learning has no practical effect, it doesn’t matter because inquiry is good for its own sake. If it does have an effect, it is bound to be good because learning leads to progress. But it surely makes sense to question whether the right people are studying the right things in the right way, and we cannot answer this unless we have some idea of what “right” is. Is it right, for example, if an academic community breeds a kind of consensus that stifles dissenting voices? Excessive belief in the autonomy of secular reason stops us asking these questions, raising the spectre of academic ‘censorship’. Most Irish people will use these words casually, and whoever they are talking to won’t take any offence because it’s normal. It gave me some information to analyse on my own accords. I do not consider that this book is meant to change your understanding or thinking of the world; however, it does provide many nice bread crumbs for your enjoyment, or discussion with your friends, colleagues or peers.A marvellous and original introduction to a complex field, highly personal, entertaining, fact-filled, and even entertaining. Worth reading and re-reading.” Marina Vaizey, theartsdesk Libération saw “chaotic organisation” on show at the summit; Le Monde “apparent nonchalance” from the British side. “He seems a lot more interested in re-litigating Brexit with Brussels than with convincing global leaders to raise their CO 2 reduction targets,” the paper wrote. So rather than structuring the book around distinct bodies of ideas - e.g. Islam, Buddhism, western philosophy, etc. - and going through everything that body of thought think about how we know, who we are, etc., Baggini flips things around, only touching on philosophies he thinks relate to the topic of the chapter. E.g. In the chapter on No self, he talks about Buddhism, in the chapter on harmony he talks about Taoism, in the chapter on naturalism he talks about Shintoism, etc. with multiple philosophies considered within each chapter. Ever since I began teaching philosophy in the 1990's I've tried to expand the canon and to include non-Western elements in my teaching. These movements have gained momentum more broadly in the academy in recent years, and so I've been trying to expand my understanding so I can be a better philosopher and a better teacher. I hadn't yet seen a good introductory text one might use for global philosophy.

No One Was Ever Thinking About You When You’re 60 You Realize No One Was Ever Thinking About You

The book as a whole represents a covert plea for dialogue, compromise and humility. Time and again, Baggini exhorts us to follow the middle path between extremes, a principle that he sees as central to the philosophy of both Aristotle and Confucius. Sometimes these extremes map on to geography, as when he proposes that “it should be possible to avoid the excesses” of western “atomism without adopting wholesale an eastern-style relational conception of self”. But more often than not, what he advocates is simply a rebalancing, via greater self-consciousness about our moral choices. You may have good reasons for choosing personal freedom over obligation to the collective – but other ethical options are available. Dear Quote Investigator: One’s sensitivity to the opinions of others often changes as one matures. The following statement has been attributed to statesman Winston Churchill: But he does believe that the various traditions can learn from each other and can see how one might think differently if different ideas are emphasized. Plus, he thinks this is the way the world is going anyway, with globalization bringing the various cultures into closer communication, such that in the future global philosophy will be a cross-cultural conversation with roots in the various traditions.On the latter point, this isn't a book that is slowly building a coherent argument. Each chapter just dips into a lot of different ideas, but doesn't attempt to draw everything together into any pithy over-arching thought. Julian Baggini’s new book is so timely and so important. … T his, I would say, is his best to date.” Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday It’s also true that people in the ‘neither’ group may be more likely to be convinced by arguments that are put forward by those who deny the safety, effectiveness and importance of vaccination. The philosopher Julian Baggini sees such ancient stories as helping to explore and explain how people think in the West. But in his new book, How the World Thinks, he admits his own failures to learn about the stories and early philosophies which have come out of the East. Without them, he argues, you cannot understand the development of distinct cultures around the world. The world thinks it’s weird that, as a nation, we get so excited to tune into the ‘telly box’ and watch a grown man play with the latest toys.

things Irish people do that the world thinks are weird 10 things Irish people do that the world thinks are weird

First, let's appreciate the beautiful patterns and colours of the cover! Second of all, this took me a while to read. It was a struggle as I couldn't focus on the info. It was hard to get into with so much info as if Baggini had expected me to already know what everything means, but I just had no clue. I didn't gain much knowledge about other areas of the world as much as I wanted to because Baggini just totally lost me. In response to the statement ‘Vaccines are effective’, only 5% of respondents across all surveyed countries said they “strongly disagree” or “somewhat disagree”. The vast majority of people do not think of vaccines as ineffective. It may seem so normal to an Irish person to put crisps in bread, but it is one of those things Irish people do that the world thinks are weird. Maybe they need to try it! 8. Sayings that make no sense – I will, yeah Credit: Pixabay / NDEThe answer would appear to be the latter and whilst Baggini tries to downplay the practical and theological aspects in the work of, say, Aristotle, it rapidly becomes obvious that modern Western philosophy has sprouted from the impractical and useless results of the pursuit of technical knowledge (science), higher purpose in life (theology) and community cohesion (traditional stories) amongst others; it comes from the dead-ends of intellectualism if you will. Things which had practical application eg capitalism or psycho-analysis rapidly disassociated themselves from philosophy and the narrow, inflexible, arbitrary constraints of axioms, propositions and inductive reasoning - i.e. rationality. I didn't learn as much as I wanted to, I was only really able to digest what I already had a grasp of, like karma, for example. Other than that, perhaps I should re-read this book when I get a better grasp of different philosophies. I read this in the wee hours of the night, a lullaby composed of fragments of musings over existence and ethics from around the world, if you will. It is only natural to wake up in the middle of disjoint dreams and muse over it myself. True to form Baggini refers to the poverty of the part of India he visits. Equally true to form is the failure to discuss if he and others like him would be willing to pay fair prices for the goods and services extracted from India, Africa etc.