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Does Julian Baggini Think Like a Philosopher?
Some Jordan Peterson vibes dripping down from the Ivory Tower
As my readers know, I love philosophy and eagerly read as much as I can about it and write about it and promote it as much as I can. I stand up for philosophy and philosophers. Sometimes, that means being critical of philosophy and philosophers.
A publisher sent to me a promo of a book called How to Think Like a Philosopher. It’s a common theme and title, this time used by Julian Baggini, his third book on the same topic. He is a philosopher, or rather one particular type of philosopher. That’s one of the things he forgets in his book, but I’ll get to that later.
I write about Baggini’s book because books like this are one reason why philosophy generally has a poor reputation. I don’t like sounding cynical, but even more, I dislike being dishonest. I really dislike dishonest philosophers.
I have complained at length about the dangers of dumbing down philosophy, most recently here. Baggini is guilty of that in this book. Worse, though, far worse, is that he is using as his template to dumb down philosophy Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life — the regressive tome deservedly much ridiculed. Baggini invents his 12, often similar, rules for what he believes defines thinking like a philosopher.
At least Baggini doesn’t include posture in his 12 rules, but Baggini’s empty platitudes aren’t much better than Peterson’s empty platitudes. Here are Baggini’s 12 rules.
The Twelve Platitudes
- pay attention;
- question everything;
- watch your steps;
- follow the facts;
- watch your language;
- be eclectic;
- be a psychologist;
- know what matters;
- lose your ego;
- think for yourself, not by yourself;
- only connect;
- don’t give up.
The rules are generic enough to avoid direct criticism, but they are so generic it is debatable they are what defines philosophy as Baggini wants us to believe. You can apply these…
