Julian Baggini is a philosopher and author who has written and co-authored almost twenty philosophical books written for a general audience. He is also co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and the blog Microphilosophy.

We’re living in an age where we seem to be losing our capacity to reason - to think rationally and make good decisions, whether it’s in education, politics or the discussion of important social issues.

In his recent work on rationality, Julian argues that many of these problems come from our inability to define reason and understand it properly.

Most notably he argues that reason is not a pure thoroughbred as the Greek philosopher Plato described it – but more of a hard working mule that’s independent from emotions and other drives. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- How to become more aware of your own thinking in the different areas of life
- Julian’s discussion of educational philosophy and his answer to the question “What’s the point of school?”
- How to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills to make better decisions

So whether you’re looking to make more rational decisions in your life, become more aware of your own thinking or just gain a better understanding of the world we’re living in at the moment, this episode will give you all that and more.

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Podcasts

🎙 ML54: Barry Schwartz on Practical Wisdom, The Meaning of Work and the Paradox of Choice

🎙 ML36: Shane Parrish on the Power of Multidisciplinary Thinking, Using Mental Models and How To Make Better Decisions

🎙 ML28: Richard Nisbett on Mental Models, The Geography of Thought and The Nature vs Nurture Debate

Resources

📖 The Edge of Reason: A Rational Skeptic in an Irrational World - Julian Baggini

📖 The Philosopher's Toolkit - Julian Baggini & Peter Fosl

▶️ TEDx: Being Multifolkal - Julian Baggini