I have met lots of very, very clever people who want to be right and they want to win. They're not good thinkers in the way that we would really want a good thinker to be. Their quickness and their wit and their intelligence leads them often to the wrong conclusions because they're just the ones that they want. And there is that points us to a distinction between kind of parliamentary activity and governing. Of course, that preoccupation with truth and accuracy remains but you are then automatically having to operate in terms that are more discreet. You can't make everything public if you want to govern more oriented towards the collective working out of potentially incommensurable disagreements.
Philosopher Julian Baggini shares the insights of his new book How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential Principles for Clearer Thinking. In conversation with government minister Jesse Norman, who was himself once an academic philosopher, Baggini set out the techniques, methods and principles that guide philosophy, and show how they can be applied to our own lives – and our politics. Using precepts such as: pay attention, question everything, follow the facts, and think for yourself but not by yourself, Baggini shows how clearer thinking can help us meet the challenges of our troubled times.
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