A. C. Grayling’s Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life is a practical set of short essays on a multitude of topics. Grayling tackles questions like “Are human rights political?” and “Is it acceptable to do bad things to bad people?” Most of these essays are only a page or two long, but Grayling has a knack of reducing some of these philosophical questions to their basic components for thoughtful analysis. This book is another browser’s delight. You can dip into it anywhere and find some lively controversy and Grayling’s engaging writing. GRADE: B+
MORE SAMPLE QUESTIONS:
If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality?
Can ethics be derived from evolution by natural selection?
If both sides in a conflict can passionately believe that theirs is the just cause, does this mean that the idea of justice is empty?
Does being happy make us good? And does being good make us happy?
Are human beings especially prone to self-deception?
The questions I think about are more likely to be: why can’t anyone invent a substance to surface roads with that doesn’t crack the first winter. I mean really.
The road crews work 24 hours a day around here, Patti. Our construction season is so short that you can’t go anywhere without running into flag-men and orange cones. And delays.
Oh, they can, Patti, they can. But it’s a lot more expensive to build really high quality roads. You don’t see cracks in airport runways, do you? It’s cheaper (the primary consideration in everything these days, of course. Grump.) to build crappy, sloppy stuff and then patch it together as best as can while the construction company pockets a nice profit.
You’re right, Rick. All the construction projects around here seem to be done cheaply. And, as you point out, the band-aid approach to fixing roads doesn’t work.
Wow. I need to get more cynical. I have been living under the illusion it couldn’t be done, not that it could and wasn’t.