The Ego Trick - Video interview

Video interview by Jules Evans at The Politics of Well-Being blog about my new book.

BBC Radio Four & World Service

I made two appearances on BBC news programmes yesterday, both on the same subject: why are we interested in the private lives of others? The first was BBC Radio Four's Today programme, and you can listen to the short discussion here. The second was on BBC World Service's Newshour and you can listen to that interview here.

The Shrink & The Sage: What must I do before I die?

It is certainly true that we need to make the most of the short, fleeting life we have. However, to do that requires savouring the journey along the passage of time, not just making as many stops along the way as possible.

Latest column in last weekend's FT magazine (21/22 May)

Does character exist?

Character has not been a significant issue in public policy. But if it is widely believed that character is important for educational achievement, diligence at work, dealing with adversity, avoiding criminality, good citizenship, and any number of any goods which government routinely involves itself in, then why is there no politics of character?

This essay is my contribution to Demos's Character Inquiry report. The whole report is available for free download here.

Happy now?

Martin Seligman has plenty of detractors but even more devotees, some in David Cameron’s government, which is looking for advice on how to put together a national well-being index set to be up and running next year. So, almost a decade on, it is politically important as well as interesting to see just how far Seligman has moved on from authentic happiness theory. The answer, unfortunately, is not nearly far enough.

Review of Seligman's new book in the FT Weekend.

BHA Conference - Manchester, 18 June

Speaking on the Saturday morning of this weekend British Humanist Association Conference on "What does religion have that we don’t?". Full details here.

Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts - 1 June

Talking about The Ego Trick on Wednesday 1 June 2011 at 8pm. Note: this will be different from the talk at the How The Light Gets In festival. Full details here.

How The Light Gets In - Hay 28 May-1 June

Taking part in several events at this philosophy & music festival, most notably:
Who Looks Back in the Mirror? (panel) Saturday 28 May, 10:30 am
The Ego Trick (solo talk) Sunday 29 May, 2 pm. Note: This talk will be different from the one given at the Hay Literature Festival.
Why We All Need Big Ideas (panel), Wednesday 1 June, 4pm
Also chairing several others. Full programme here.

RSA London - 26 May

Talking tomorrow at 1pm under the title What Does it Mean to be You? about my new book, The Ego Trick. Full details here.

Redbridge Festival - Wanstead, 20 May

Talking about The Ego Trick at the Redbridge Book & Media Festival at 7.15. Full details here.

National Portrait Gallery - London, 13 May

Taking part in a panel discussion on portraiture and philosophy with David Edmonds and Sarah Bakewell, chaired by Nigel Warburton. Full details here.

Ignite - Bristol, 12 May

"In talks that are exactly five minutes long, Ignite speakers share their passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds—whether they’re ready or not."

Full details here

Never saying never to torture

I maintain the importance of an absolute prohibition against torture, while acknowledging that even absolute prohibitions can sometimes be broken. If that is a contradiction, it is a contradiction that ethics has to embrace, or else it becomes like glass: hard, clear, but fatally inflexible.

Latest post at the Guardian's Comment is Free.

Should photos of Bin Laden's corpse be released?

"Good ethical decision-making requires both a sound grasp of principles and acute sensitivity to the particulars of context. No moral philosopher who lacks the latter can in this case simply decree what is right."

Long quote from me in this BBC News website piece.

The Shrink & The Sage: Feeling torn

The metaphor of feeling torn is very powerful, but it’s in the detail that it stands up or breaks down. If what comes to mind is a single, rent sheet of fabric, then I’m afraid the symbolism has led you astray. The fabric of the self is not a smooth, continuous surface but a patchwork quilt, and feeling torn is simply a coming apart of the seams.

Latest column in this weekend's FT Magazine.

One of Britain's top 300 intellectuals?

I'm very flattered to have been included on this list in today's Observer.

Start the Week - BBC Radio Four

"Andrew Marr explores how far empathy, or the lack of it, can explain cruelty. Simon Baron-Cohen proposes turning the focus away from evil or specific personality disorders, and to understand human behaviour by studying the 'empathy circuit' in the brain. Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital and the crime writer Val McDermid question whether this would help in their line of work, and the philosopher Julian Baggini tries to pin down what we mean when we talk about the self."

Broadcast 2 May. Available to listen again here.

The Ego Trick - Review in Intelligent Life

"Do you feel you have, at your core, some “pearl of identity”, unchanging from cradle to grave, and perhaps beyond? If so, where is it located? Peeling back layer upon layer of delusion, Julian Baggini argues that there is no such thing as the self; that we are all just fragmented bundles of perception and experience—and that we should be relieved to hear this. Baggini works on a broad canvas, citing Hume and Locke alongside the reflections of sex-change patients and victims of dementia. While leaving the ego in pieces, he gives your mind a thorough workout."

One of Maggie Fergusson's eight picks of the season in The Economist's quarterly Intelligent Life Books of the Season feature.

My royal wedding

Among all this madness, who would not be touched by a commitment to "mutual society, help, and comfort … both in prosperity and adversity" that is all the more moving because, as other royals have shown, it comes with no guarantees?

Thoughts on that wedding in today's Observer