Quotes from Julian Baggini

Do the gods choose what is good because it is good, or is the good good because the gods choose it? If the first option is true, then the good is independent of the gods. But if the second option is true, then the very idea of what is good becomes arbitrary.

God replies that all it really proves is "that some men will follow any order no matter how asinine as long as it comes from a resonant, well-modulated voice.

Religion will recede not by atheists shouting condemnation, but by the quiet voice of reason slowly making itself heard.

What matters is surely that life has a purpose for us, here and now. Whether this purpose was dreamed up by a creator or is assigned or invented by ourselves is not of paramount importance. If we can give life purpose and meaning, there is no obvious reason why this should be considered an inferior kind of meaning to that which could have been given by a creator.

No one can make up your mind for you, unless you make up your mind to let them.

Hindsight may be a wonderful thing, but foresight is even better. What a pity, then, that people have foresight only in hindsight.

Nunca será posible llegar solo mediante la razón pura a alguna verdad absoluta».5

If we pretend or imagine that life's purpose lies outside living itself, we will be searching the stars for what is underneath our feet all the time.

It would be too strong to say that because avowed atheism emerged riding on the back of the Enlightenment it should take the credit for its achievements. But it would be equally foolish to see the simultaneous emergence of modern atheism and the Enlightenment as purely coincidental.

Real life is about accepting ups and downs, the good and the bad, the possibility of failure as well as the ambition to succeed. Atheism speaks to the truth about our human nature because it recognizes all this and does not seek to shield us from the truth by myth and superstition

Morality is more than possible without God, it is entirely independent of him.

Philosophy without criticism is like hunting deer without a shotgun, so, if you want people to like you, avoid robust philosophical debate.

Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.

This line of reasoning would seem to lead to the absurd conclusion that the world is filled with noises no one hears, colours no one sees, flavours no one tastes, textures no one feels, as well as a host of other sense experience we cannot even imagine. For there is no end in which creatures might possibly perceive the world.

The point of seeing both sides isn't to hover between them but to be able to come down on the right side with the right degree of conviction.

Is it how we feel or how we think that is more important in determining whether we are morally good human beings?

Our desire to preserve is a form of denial about our own mortality. The fact that art can indure longer than people has lead some to seek a form of proxy-immortality through it. If we accept that art is mortal too, and that nothing is truly permanent, maybe we can see more clearly where the value of art and life is to be fount - in experiencing them.

You know what a word means when you know how to use it, not what its definition is. That is why we can understand and use all sorts of words that we struggle to define clearly if we are put on the spot and asked to do so.

Working out whether or not the claims you make in your premises are true, while important, is simply not enough to ensure that you draw true conclusions. People make this mistake all the time. They forget that you can begin with a set of entirely true beliefs but reason so poorly as to end up with entirely false conclusions. The problem is that starting with truth doesn't guarantee ending up with it.

Rhetoric is simply the use of language to persuade, and it can be used to persuade us of falsehoods as well as truths.

the meaning of life is not some kind of answer, which, once learned, is forever possessed. For life to stay meaningful it must continue to contain things of value, and that is an ongoing work in progress. Meaning can vanish: what we once found gave us a reason to exist we can lose or tire of.

No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it.' Seneca (c. 4 BCE to 65 AD)

We all have to make some basic assumptions that we cannot afford to doubt. Belief in our very sanity is in some sense a leap of faith.

Even if God were inclined to dole out post-mortem punishment it is more likely to be for the wicked than for the sceptical.