British - Author | 1968 -
There are many things you shouldn't measure. Don't, for example, try to measure how much you love your wife!
Julian Baggini
LoveWifeYouMeasureTryThings
You should protest about the views of people you disagree with over major moral issues, and argue them down, but you should not try to silence them, however repugnant you find them. That is the bitter pill free speech requires us to swallow.
SilencePeopleFreeSpeechYouDown
True respect means taking other people's beliefs seriously and assuming they are adult and intelligent enough to be able to cope with it if you tell them, clearly and civility, why you think they are totally, utterly and disastrously wrong.
RespectPeopleThinkEnoughYouWhy
The reason to be an atheist is not that it makes us feel better or gives us a more rewarding life. The reason to be an atheist is simply that there is no God and we would prefer to live in full recognition of that, accepting the consequences, even if it makes us less happy.
LifeLiveGodHappyBetterFeel
People should not expect the state to protect them from fraudsters. If we do, we get into the habit of neglecting our own powers of intellectual discernment.
HabitPeopleIntellectualProtect
Being a good neighbour is about compassion, which is as warm-blooded as justice is cool-headed.
GoodJusticeCompassionBeingAbout
Society needs both justice and compassion, a head and a heart, if it is to be civilised.
HeartJusticeCompassionSociety
The only good reason to embrace a philosophical position is that you are convinced it is true or at least makes sense of the world better than the alternatives.
GoodWorldBetterYouTrueEmbrace
If we find it hard to believe that winning millions might not be so lucky after all, we just don't have a good enough imagination. If I fantasise about winning the lottery, it doesn't take long before all sorts of worrisome potential consequences occur to me.
GoodImaginationMeWinningBelieve
Big sporting events and spectacles might give the national morale a shot in the arm, but they are too transient and taste-specific to stand as robust symbols of nationhood.
StandEventsMoraleBigSpectacles
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.
WorkArtMoralNeedSelf-Interest
The greatest moral failing is to condemn something as a moral failing: no vice is worse than being judgmental.
MoralViceJudgmentalSomethingThan
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