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Churchgoers Survey

I have conducted a two-part survey as research for my Heathen's Progress series at the Guardian's Comment is Free Belief blog. Here the key documents of the survey are available for download, on condition that they are not used for commercial use and that you notify me of any use made of the data in material published in any form.

The first survey was of 141 Bristol Churchgoers. The documents available are

Survey as given to churchgoers [PDF]
Survey results summary [PDF]
Survey response spreadsheet [Excel]

Note that in spreadsheet, "0" indicates no response, "1" first option selected and so on. "v" indicates question answered in way which made it void.

The second survey was conducted online and received 767 responses.The documents available are

Survey results summary [PDF]
Survey response spreadsheet [Excel]

My initial discussion of the results is here.

Interview in Expansión

"Los políticos no mienten más en campaña electoral... pero dicen muchas más medias verdades." [Politicians don;t lie more during elction campaigns, but they say many more half-truths.]

Interview in Expansión

Is there a real you?

Video of my TEDx Youth talk on "Is there a real you?"

Who looks back in the mirror?

This is a panel session I took part in at the How The Light Gets In philosophy Festival in Hay back in May called "Who looks back in the mirror?" with Simon May, Henrietta Moore and Barry C. Smith, chaired by Martin Jacques. (Video can be slow to load)

Mapping the Moral Minefield

This is a video of the Levinthal Lecture I gave at the CUP conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on ethics and the pharmaceutical business.

CUP XII - Levinthal Lecture - Julian Baggini from OpenEye Scientific Software on Vimeo.

The Ego Trick - RSA Video

A nicely edited video of my talk at the RSA on The Ego Trick.

The 4-minute Ego Trick

Talk on The Ego Trick at Ignite Bristol.

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.

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.

One of Britain's top 300 intellectuals?

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

Goodbye Cohesive Communities, Hello Successful Neighbourhoods

"It seems to me that by “social cohesion” we minimally mean, to return to our first metaphor, a social fabric that holds together. But potential exemplars of this vary enormously, from very tightly-knit communities to much looser ones. This is how it should be. It should not be the goal of policy-makes to determine just how closely interwoven the lives of citizens are. People should be allowed to be as independent as they want to be, consistent with society holding together.

"Similar thoughts arise when you consider the word “community”. It evokes warm feelings of village fetes, neighbourhood watch schemes and communal allotments. But, again, this kind of close living with others is not for everyone. Public bodies should certainly allow such communities to flourish, but it is not their business to turn every street into prime exemplars."

Contribution to a collection essays exploring the future of the public and not-for-profit sectors over the next ten years. Full text available as PDF here.

No one is an ethical expert: long live ethical expertise

I've had an essay published in the book Ethiek in discussie: Praktijkvoorbeelden van ethische expertise (Discussing Ethics: The Practice of ethical expertise), edited by Mariette van den Hoven, Lieke van der Scheer, Dick Willems (red.). All the other chapters are in Dutch. Full details about the book here.

Video of talk on reason in Mexico

Here's a twenty-minute video of my talk on reason and rationality at La Ciudad de las Ideas festival in Puebla, Mexico.

Observer recommends microphilosophy

The Observer magazine has recommended me/microphilosophy in a feature called 30 ways to a better life. It's the third item on this page. Microphilosophy is an umbrella for various projects of mine which are intended to be of the small and stimulating variety, including twitter, films and podcasts.

Reason defined

This is a very short video of me made by wordia.com, talking about the meaning of reason. They do a word a day like this...

Three questions for...

This is the first of a series of George "Podularity" Miller's short videos in which he asks writers three simple questions - no tricks or surprises, but no forewarning either.

Three questions for... Julian Baggini from George Miller on Vimeo.

Mistaking Mistakes

"A common injunction of self-help and management advice over recent years has been to 'make more mistakes'. In the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal and the credit crunch, enthusiasm for such bravado has evaporated, with some justification. Even the diluted version – that we all just have to accept, like grown adults, that mistakes will be made – is far too simplistic. Making mistakes is neither a virtue nor a vice in itself. Everything depends on the nature of the mistake: in particular, why it was made and what the alternatives were..."

A guest essay for the think tank Demos. Free to download here.

Creationism debate

It may not be great TV, but a debate I took part in on teaching creationism in schools (or not) is now online. Thanks to Phil Holden, The Humanist Society of Scotland and The Institute of Ideas.

Taking Liberties - British Library

I appear in virtual form in one of the interactive parts of this British Library exhibition. I'm not sure where exactly, though, but I have been reliably spotted! Not on the website though, as far I can see.