Life Sex and Ideas

A distinctive voice somewhere between Mark Twain and Michel Montaigne is how Psychology Today described A.C. Grayling. In Life Sex and Ideas: The Good Life Without God readers have the pleasure of hearing this distinctive voice address some of the most serious topics in philosophy--and in our daily lives--including reflections on guns anger conflict war; monsters madness decay; liberty justice utopia; suicide loss and remembrance. A civilized society says Grayling is one which never ceases having a discussion with itself about what human life should best be. In this book Grayling adds to this discussion a series of short informal essays about ethics ideas and culture. A recurring theme is religion of which he writes there is no greater social evil. He argues for instance that liberal education is better than religion for inculcating moral values. Education in literature history and appreciation of the arts he says opens the possibility for us to live more reflectively and knowledgeably especially about the nature and variety of human experience. That in turn increases our capacity for understanding others better so that we can treat them with respect and sympathy however different their outlook on life. Thought provoking rather than definitive these essays don''t tell readers what to think but only note what has been thought about how it is best to live. A person who does not think about life the author reminds us is like a stranger mapless in a foreign land. These brief and suggestive essays offer us the outlines of a map with avenues of thought that are a pleasure to wander down.