Quotes by Julian Baggini

About Julian Baggini:

Julian Baggini is a British philosopher, and the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He wrote The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments (2005) and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine. He was awarded his PhD in 1996 from University College London for a thesis on the philosophy of personal identity. He contributes to a variety of newspapers, magazines and BBC radio.
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Being able and willing to complain is what makes us rational and moral animals, capable of seeing and articulating the difference between how things are and how they should be.

Julian Baggini

'That which does not kill me makes me stronger' is not a law of the universe. What it can be, if we so choose, is a resolution.

Julian Baggini

The greatest moral failing is to condemn something as a moral failing: no vice is worse than being judgmental.

Julian Baggini

There is such a thing as fanaticism, it is always wrong, and if you disagree, you're wrong too.

Julian Baggini

People should not expect the state to protect them from fraudsters. If we do, we get into the habit of neglecting our own powers of intellectual discernment.

Julian Baggini

If I hammer my own thumb while doing some DIY, it's not nice, but it's not the end of the world. To care obsessively about similar levels of discomfort in animals seems to be a case of mistaken moral priorities.

Julian Baggini

Whatever your religious persuasion, if you believe that that the universe is governed by benign forces, at some point you have to explain why there is so much suffering, misfortune and misery in the world.

Julian Baggini

This is the deal: we are happy to single out people as superior just as long as they don't accept the description themselves. We want heroes and idols, but we also want egalitarianism, and that requires proclamations of humility from our gods.

Julian Baggini

Rules matter, and to be rules they need to be universal in form: always do this, never do that. But it is foolish to rule out in advance the possibility that an occasion might arise when normal rules just don't apply. Rules are not there to be broken...

Julian Baggini

If we now find ourselves looking down on the cheap and convenient, it is only because we now have better things which are affordable.

Julian Baggini

Right and wrong are not simply matters of evolutionary impacts and what is natural.

Julian Baggini

I don't think anyone who genuinely embraced sincerity, charity and modesty could be intolerant or divisive.

Julian Baggini

Being virtuous is wonderful thing, but feeling virtuous is a shortcut to vice.

Julian Baggini

Indeed, without emotion it seems unlikely we can even have morality.

Julian Baggini

Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway.

Julian Baggini

When you do the right thing, but not to any particular person, we instinctively feel that we have earned some sort of pay back. Since no-one will do that for us, we opt for self-service reciprocation.

Julian Baggini

If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.

Julian Baggini

On social networking sites, we may expose ourselves, but we choose to do so. We are in control and, often wrongly, we do not feel we are giving away tradable data.

Julian Baggini

The idea that there is a sharp boundary between our true inner selves and the outside world is pervasive but highly questionable. The boundaries of the self might well be more porous than we ordinarily think.

Julian Baggini

Justice can only be dispensed when you have all the facts in front of you.

Julian Baggini

Trade has played a vital role in the social evolution of humankind. It allowed people to specialise, which raises both skill levels and efficiency. It brought people from different lands together, co-operating rather than competing over resources.

Julian Baggini

Author Bio

  • NameJulian Baggini
  • DescriptionEnglish philosopher
  • Born1968
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPhilosopher; Writer