Grayling’s ‘Against All Gods’

Aware that many of the members are fans of polemics, I would commend AC Grayling’s Against All Gods. I would even commend the work to those members of theistic persuasion, and those that maintain a belief fairies and/or goblins...

Review Notices

Two recent NDPR reviews – Alan Schrift’s Twentieth Century French Philosophy and Jason Powell’s Jacques Derrida.

Graham on Christendom and Modernity

'Christendom, an expert on the topic lamented on CBC the other night, is in decline in the West. Apparently "Modernity" is to blame. The Pope probably agrees. Though I'm not sure what Modernity includes, the advancement of science, technology, literacy, higher education; the greater awareness for cultural diversity; the greater appreciation of the value of tolerance; and so on, are probably all a part of the overall package. And these things might all lead to a decline in Christendom because Christendom thrives on a lack of awareness or understanding of how science reveals the nature of things and how technology works; lower rates of literacy and higher education; a lack of appreciation for cultural and religious diversity; and a certain degree of intolerance of difference. "Modernity" may make its citizens more aware of alternative explanations of religious belief, explanations that don't require the positing of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, all-present, creator and sustainer of all things who acted in the world through his one and only Son in order to save us all from our sins. Perhaps religious belief is simply due to culture and upbringing, or evolution, or driven by various psychological needs, or something else altogether. "Reason" no longer seems to assist "Faith" the way it once did.'

- Peter Graham, reviewing Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's Moral Skepticisms for NDPR.

Review Notice – Foucault’s ‘History of Madness’

NDPR has published a review of the recent translation of Michel Foucault’s History of Madness (Histoire de la Folie, previously translated in an abridged form as Madness and Civilization).

Article - 'Other Lives'

'It is hard to let go of Pythagoras. He has meant so much to so many for so long. I can with confidence say to readers of this essay: most of what you believe, or think you know, about Pythagoras is fiction, much of it deliberately contrived.'

M.F. Burnyeat has written an intersting article on the life of Pythagoras, for The London Review of Books, reviewing two recent biographies of the mysterious classical figure.

Review Notice – ‘The Evolution of Morality’

‘Controversial’ Australian (?) ethicist Peter Singer has reviewed Richard Joyce’s The Evolution of Morality for NDPR – includes the requisite discussion of primates …

A Review Notice For Peter And An Article For Samuel

For Peter, Revealing Art by Matthew Kieran.

For Samuel, ‘And Nozick Begat Reagan?' by Patrick Tomlin.

‘How To Read Derrida’ – Review Notice

Dolan Cummings has reviewed Penelope Deutscher’s How To Read Derrida and Peter Osbourne’s How To Read Marx (from a series published by Granta) for New Statesman.

[Cross-posted at Epideixis. Comments have been disabled here.]