num_pages: 272
description: An urgent defense of reason the essential method for resolvingor even discussingdivisive issuesReason long held as the highest human achievement is under siege. According to Aristotle the capacity for reason sets us apart from other animals yet today it has ceased to be a universally admired faculty. Rationality and reason have become political disputed concepts subject to easy dismissal. Julian Baggini argues eloquently that we must recover our reason and reassess its proper place neither too highly exalted nor completely maligned. Rationality does not require a sterile scientistic worldview it simply involves the application of critical thinking wherever thinking is needed. Addressing such major areas of debate as religion science politics psychology and economics the author calls for commitment to the notion of a community of reason where disagreements are settled by debate and discussion not brute force or political power. Baggini's insightful book celebrates the power of reason our best hopeindeed our only hopefor dealing with the intractable quagmires of our time.
language: English
title: The Edge of Reason: A Rational Skeptic in an Irrational World
publisher: Yale University Press