How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy

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Okay, this is a very Irish trait, and you’ll know this when you do it in another country and get the ‘what are you thanking me for, it’s my job’ look. The world most definitely thinks we’re bonkers for doing this. When you catch yourself worrying about what others think of you, remember the Twenty-Forty-Sixty Rule: At age twenty, you worry about what others think about you; at forty, you don’t care what others think about you; and at sixty, you realize that nobody was thinking about you in the first place. Anyhow, about the book itself. It was not an easy read, especially because I was listening to the book, instead of reading paper form (so references were a bit of a nightmare); however, it was well versed and discussed from the Western and Eastern point of view by not placing the highlight on the comparison of both but by explaining on how both are more similar than we are lead to believe. Some discussions may be triggering to some people, as they are historical understandings, and do not stand the same grounds as moderns views on the world anymore, but it is important to note, that discussions are based on academic understandings of philosophy and religion, thus just different. 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’.

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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" One of the great unexplained wonders of human history is that written philosophy flowered entirely separately in China, India and Ancient Greece at more or less the same time. These early philosophies have had a profound impact on the development of distinctive cultures in different parts of the world. What we call 'philosophy' in the West is not even half the story. Julian Baggini sets out to expand our horizons in How the World Thinks, exploring the philosophies of Japan, India, China and the Muslim world, as well as the lesser-known oral traditions of Africa and Australia's first peoples. Interviewing thinkers from around the globe, Baggini asks questions such as: why is the West is more individualistic than the East? What makes secularism a less powerful force in the Islamic world than in Europe? And how has China resisted pressures for greater political freedom? Offering deep insights into how different regions operate, and paying as much attention to commonalities as to differences, Baggini shows that by gaining greater knowledge of how others think we take the first step to a greater understanding of ourselves. Irish people are loved around the world for so many things, including the music they’ve shared, the food they’ve exported, and, of course, the beer they’ve brewed. But there are some things Irish people do that the world thinks are weird. 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.At age 20 we don’t care what the world thinks of us; at 40 we worry what it is thinking of us; at 60 we discover that it wasn’t thinking of us at all.— (K & M) If you have grown up in Ireland, these ten things will seem so normal, but we’ll have you know that apparently, they are not that normal outside our Emerald Isle. 10. Talking to random strangers – the super friendly Irish Credit: Pixabay / pxby666 Also discussed on Tim Haigh’s Book’s Podcast, Newstalk’s Talking Books with Susan Cahill, The Institute of Art and Ideas Philosophy for Our Times podcast ( Soundcloud or iTunes) and Meet the Macs with Fief Macrander . Julian Baggini sets out to expand our horizons in How the World Thinks, exploring the philosophies of Japan, India, China and the Muslim world, as well as the lesser-known oral traditions of Africa and Australia’s first peoples. Interviewing thinkers from around the globe, Baggini asks questions such as: why is the West is more individualistic than the East? What makes secularism a less powerful force in the Islamic world than in Europe? And how has China resisted pressures for greater political freedom?

How the World Thinks By Julian Baggini | Used | 9781783782307 How the World Thinks By Julian Baggini | Used | 9781783782307

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 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. Personally, I have a problem with the interface between religion and philosophy. For me there always seems to be a leap of faith - rather obvious isn’t it? - that precludes serious critical analysis. “We don’t all die” were the words of a broadcast bishop recently in the United Kingdom, implying that those of a good life (equals conforms to his interpreted prescriptions] will be saved for all eternity. This is not bad for a faith that promises to respect and deal equally with all humanity. Of course, there is individual behavior to be accounted for, but the implication of the bishop’s words are that anyone who is perfectly faithful but not a Christian will be excluded from eternal life (an ambition which, it has to be said, has not one iota of evidence to suggest it might exist…) It’s a typical stereotype of the Brits and their tea, but we Irish are actually the ones that rely on tea for almost everything.It's organised into broad sections like - How the world knows, how we are, how the world is, the world acts, etc. - which broadly correlate to theories of knowledge (epistemology), theories of self, theories of reality (ontology / metaphysics), and morality. Then within each section there are chapters with broad themes - like tradition, intuition, no-self, Harmony, etc. Within each of those themes Baggini will pull in philosophical traditions from around the world which he thinks are relevant. Most Irish people will use these words casually, and whoever they are talking to won’t take any offence because it’s normal.