Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life - Tapa dura

'A rollicking defence of Freedom and Enlightenment in the style of Tom Paine or William Godwin' Spectator (on Towards the Light) 'Grayling upholds some principles that should be tattooed inside the eyelids of any politician who claims to be a liberal democrat: that liberties are indivisible and universal; that free speech is "the fundamental civil liberty"' The Times (on Liberty in the Age of Terror)

The essays in this book, drawn mainly from A. C. Grayling's columns in Prospect, the Dubliner and The Times, are in fact responses to questions set by editors and readers. If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality? Are human rights political? 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? As in his previous books of popular philosophy, including the best-selling The Reason of Things and The Meaning of Things, rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers instead suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question, and arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection.