"Around the world the foundations of democracy, freedom, civil liberties are being eroded—what can be done?
Are we living through the end of the democratic moment? While democracy once seemed the bedrock of Western societies, the past few decades have revealed a fragile reality. Once liberal countries are turning to authoritarianism, wealthy individuals and corporations are interfering with elections evermore flagrantly, and faith in democracy has plummeted among every demographic. What happened?
From gerrymandering and partisanship to corporate interference and tainted donations, A. C. Grayling reveals the forces undermining our democratic ideals and offers bold solutions. An urgent wake-up call to the risks this poses to us all, For The People reminds us why democracy remains worth fighting for."
"Bloomsbury presents The Good Book by A. C. Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin
Drawing on the wisdom of 2,500 years of contemplative non-religious writing on all that it means to be human - from the origins of the universe to small matters of courtesy and kindness in everyday life - A. C. Grayling, Britain's most popular and widely read philosopher, has created a secular bible.
Designed to be read as narrative and also to be dipped into for inspiration, encouragement and consolation, The Good Book offers a thoughtful, non-religious alternative to the many people who do not follow one of the world's great religions. Instead, going back to traditions older than Christianity, and far richer and more various, including the non-theistic philosophical and literary schools of the great civilisations of both West and East, from the Greek philosophy of classical antiquity and its contemporaneous Confucian, Mencian and Mohist schools in China, down through classical Rome, the flourishing of Indian and Arab worlds, the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, the worldwide scientific discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries to the present, Grayling collects, edits, rearranges and organises the collective secular wisdom of the world in one highly readable volume. C 2011 A. C. Grayling P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents Thinking of Answers by A C Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin
Thought-provoking short essays by Britain's leading public philosopher that show us how to discover our own answers to life's challenges
‘While most philosophy is written in abstruse and ponderous prose, Grayling's is a model of clarity and elegance' The Times
'An enthusiastic thinker who embraces humour, common sense and lucidity' Independent
~ If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality?
~ Are human rights political?
~ Can ethics be derived from evolution by natural selection?
~ If both sides in a conflict can passionately believe that theirs is the just cause, does this mean that the idea of justice is empty?
~ Does being happy make us good? And does being good make us happy?
~ Are human beings especially prone to self-deception?
As in his previous books of popular philosophy, including the best-selling The Reason of Things and The Meaning of Things, rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers instead suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question, and arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection. C 2010 A. C. Grayling P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents The God Argument by A. C. Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin.
There has been a bad-tempered quarrel between defenders and critics of religion in recent years. Both sides have expressed themselves acerbically because there is a very great deal at stake in the debate. This book thoroughly and calmly examines all the arguments and associated considerations offered in support of religious belief, and does so in full consciousness of the reasons people have for subscribing to religion, and the needs they seek to satisfy by doing so. And because it takes account of all the issues, its solutions carry great weight. The God Argument is the definitive examination of the issue, and a statement of the humanist outlook that recommends itself as the ethics of the genuinely reflective person. C 2015 A. C. Grayling P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents The Challenge of Things by A. C. Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin
A. C. Grayling's lucid and stimulating books, based on the idea that philosophy should engage with the world and make itself useful, are immensely popular.
The Challenge of Things joins earlier collections like The Reason of Things and Thinking of Answers, but this time to collect Grayling's recent writings on the world in a time of war and conflict. In describing and exposing the dark side of things, he also explores ways out of the habits and prejudices of mind that would otherwise trap us forever in the deadly impasses of conflicts of all kinds.
Whether he is writing about the First World War and its legacy, free speech, the advantages of an atheist prime minister or the role of science in the arts, his essays are always enlightening, enlivening and hopeful. C 2015 A. C. Grayling P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents The Age of Genius by A. C. Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin
What happened to the European mind between 1605, when an audience watching Macbeth at the Globe might believe that regicide was such an aberration of the natural order that ghosts could burst from the ground, and 1649, when a large crowd, perhaps including some who had seen Macbeth forty-four years earlier, could stand and watch the execution of a king? Or consider the difference between a magus casting a star chart and the day in 1639, when Jonathan Horrock and William Crabtree watched the transit of Venus across the face of the sun from their attic, successfully testing its course against Kepler’s Tables of Planetary Motion, in a classic case of confirming a scientific theory by empirical testing.
In this turbulent period, science moved from the alchemy and astrology of John Dee to the painstaking observation and astronomy of Galileo, from the classicism of Aristotle, still favoured by the Church, to the evidence-based, collegiate investigation of Francis Bacon. And if the old ways still lingered and affected the new mind set – Descartes’s dualism an attempt to square the new philosophy with religious belief; Newton, the man who understood gravity and the laws of motion, still fascinated to the end of his life by alchemy – by the end of that tumultuous century ‘the greatest ever change in the mental outlook of humanity’ had irrevocably taken place. C 2016 A. C. Grayling P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"World-renowned philosopher A. C. Grayling explores the messy politics of the 'culture wars'
It seems like we can't talk about anything nowadays . . . Whether it's war or something utterly inconsequential, the internet is primed for furor. And the results can be horrifying—from online pile ons and doxing to job loss and, in some cases, death. But how did we end up here?
Nuanced and historically grounded, A. C. Grayling searches for middle ground in an otherwise incendiary debate. Looking at the history of cancellation, from Ancient Greek 'ostracism' through hemlock cups, witch trials, and the House of Un-American Activities, Discriminations is a timely examination of the state of our public culture and the chilling effect it's having on intellectual discourse."
"Silicon for microchips; manganese for batteries; titanium for missiles.
The moon contains a wealth of natural resources. So, as the Earth’s supplies have begun to dwindle, it is no surprise that the world’s superpowers and wealthiest corporations have turned their eyes to the stars. As this new Space Race begins, A.C. Grayling asks: who, if anyone, owns the moon? Or Mars? Or other bodies in near space? And what do those superpowers and corporations owe to Planet Earth and its inhabitants as a whole?
From feudal common land, through the rules of the sea, to the vast, nationless expanse of Antarctica, Grayling explores the history of the places which no one, and therefore everyone, owns. Examining the many ways this so-called terra nullius has fallen victim to ‘the tragedy of the commons’ – the tendency for communal resources to be exploited by a few individuals for personal gain at the expense of everyone else – Who Owns the Moon? puts forward a compelling argument for a bold new global consensus, one which recognises and defends the rights of everyone who lives on this planet."
"A lucid and inspiring consideration of the challenges we and our world now face, and a proposal for a way to overcome them
Can we human beings agree on a set of values which will allow us to confront the numerous threats that we and our planet face?
Or will we continue our disagreements, rivalries, and antipathies, even as we collectively approach what, in the not-impossible extreme, might be extinction?
To answer these questions, A. C. Grayling considers the three most pressing challenges facing the world: climate change, technology, and justice, acknowledging that there is no worldwide set of values that can be invoked to underwrite agreements about what to do and not do in the interests of humanity and the planet in all these respects. As extreme weather events increase in frequency, advances in AI and military technology accelerate, and inequities deepen everywhere, the question of how to confront the world’s various problems becomes even more urgent.
If there is to be a chance of finding ways to generate universal agreement, the underlying question of values (together with the problem of relativism) has to be addressed. One part of the answer may lie in toleration and convivencia—the basis of coexistence among Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Iberian peninsula between the ninth and fifteenth centuries CE."
"Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) was an extraordinarily original thinker, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking far outside the bounds of philosophy alone. In this engaging Introduction, A. C. Grayling makes Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general listener by explaining the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought."
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