Joseph Henrich. The Weirdest People In The World: How the West Became Pscychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous (2020)

‘W.E.I.R.D. people – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic – are outliers. They are more individualistic, impartial and trusting than most of humanity which is more tribal. A key cause of Western psychology was the Catholic Church’s marriage rules which weakened kinship.’ My notes on the book.

James Clear. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Habits (2018)

‘You are your habits. Every action you take is a vote for the person you want to be. Choose your identity and then build your habits to fulfil this. The person you build through your good habits gives you the system to achieve your goals ‘ My notes on the book.

Steven Pinker. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. (2002, 2016)

‘The doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage and the Ghost in the Machine have become established in intellectual life although they contradict science and commonsense. By contrast, science is providing a rich picture of human nature that we can appreciate and employ..’ My notes on the book.

Books on Utilitarianism

Five recommended books to introduce utilitarianism

Bullet Points on Metaethics, Utilitarianism and Effective Altruism

Brief points to set out my views on metaethics, utilitarianism and effective altruism

David Deutsch. The Beginning Of Infinity: Explanations That Transform The World (2011)

‘Knowledge proceeds by creating good explanations and improving them through conjectures and criticism. Rapid creation of knowledge took off with the Enlightenment and from the approach that all knowledge is fallible and capable of improvement. Generation of knowledge makes humanity significant, and may be an infinite process.’ My notes on the book.

Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. (1997)

‘Eurasian dominance can be explained by its technology and its diseases, which came from its long-settled societies. Eurasia was settled earlier due to its early and widespread adoption of food production which arose because of its domesticable plants and animals, its accessibility and scale and its East-West orientation.’ My notes on the book.

William MacAskill. Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference. (2015)

‘Effective altruism’s approach is to use evidence and careful reasoning to find how to make the most positive difference. As affluent countries are 100 times richer, and because the best charities can be 100s of times more effective, we each have the power to save dozens of lives by donating to the most effective development charities.’ My notes on the book.

Daniel Gilbert. Stumbling on Happiness.(2006)

‘We use imagination to simulate our futures but make systematic errors in forecasting our happiness.’ My notes on the book.

Steven Pinker. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to writing in the 21st Century. (2014)

‘Good style allows writers to get their messages across, earn trust and add beauty to the world. Non-fiction writing should be in Classic Style, aiming to engage the reader in conversation and make it easy for the reader to see what is being presented. A writer should be well read, should take care to avoid the Curse of Knowledge and to be coherent, and should be aware of syntax trees and some prescriptive rules.’ My notes on the book.

Steven Pinker. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress (2018)

‘The enlightenment ideas of reason, science, humanism and progress have transformed human well-being. As can be illustrated by data and graphs, there has been tremendous progress across life expectancy, health, nutrition, wealth, knowledge and lifestyles – first a Great Escape by the West, then a Great Convergence by the rest of the world. By contrast, modern problems including existential risks, environment and happiness are overstated or manageable. Greater awareness of the enlightenment’s achievements and approach would counter declinist, religious and populist thinking. ‘ My notes on the book.

Joseph Henrich. The Secret of our Success: How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating our Species and Making us Smarter. (2001)

‘The secret of humanity’s success is cumulative cultural evolution. Cultural evolution has been the primary driver of our species’ genetic evolution. Larger and more interconnected populations generate more sophisticated tools, techniques, weapons, and know-how because they have larger collective brains.’ My notes on the book.

Brian Greene. Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe. (2020)

‘We explain the universe by constructing narratives that operate at different levels, but which are consistent. Despite our longing for immortality and the absolute, life and mind are only transitory.’ My notes on the book.

Sean Carroll. The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself (2016)

‘Poetic naturalism considers that our best approach to describing the universe is not a single, unified story told at the fundamental and deterministic level of a quantum wave function, but instead an interconnected series of models appropriate at different levels with emergent descriptions that should be considered real. The evolution of the universe is pushed by increasing entropy and complexity from a low-entropy past. Ethical systems are human constructions that can be improved.’ My notes on the book.

Toby Ord. The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity (2020)

‘Humanity is on a precipice where it risks destroying itself and losing its vast future potential. We have immense leverage at this time, so reducing existential risks should be our top moral priority.’ My notes on the book.

Jonathan Haidt. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. (2012)

‘Our minds are righteous as we make moral judgments quickly and instinctively and any reasoning mainly just confirms our intuitions. Morality can concern harm, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority and the sacred, but western liberals concentrate only on harm and fairness. Morality binds us to groups but blinds us to alternative perspectives.’ My notes on the book.

Steven Pinker. The Better Angels of our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity. (2011)

‘Perhaps the most important feature of human history is a
massive decline in violence, from hunter-gatherers, through primitive and modern states, and over recent decades. Our escape from a shockingly brutal past has been due to forming states, to cultures of civilized values and self-control, to the ideas of the enlightenment and of human rights and to capacities to consider others and toapply reason. ‘ My notes on the book.

Sam Harris. The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. (2010)

‘Questions about values are about the welfare of conscious creatures. We should use reason to decide what to do, developing a science of morality rather than relying on divine authority or accepting moral relativism.’ My notes on the book.

Richard Layard. Can We Be Happier? Evidence and Ethics. (2020)

‘The Happiness Principle is the overarching personal and political goal of creating happiness. The World Happiness Movement encourages a gentler, kinder culture. ‘ My notes on the book.

Richard Layard. Happiness: Lessons From a New Science. (2005, 2011)

‘Personal and public policy should be directed towards the general good by applying the modern scientific understanding of happiness. We should address the paradox that economic growth has not made us happier. Happiness is a single, objective dimension, but we should give more weight to the happiness of the less happy. We should aim for trust, security and cooperation.’ My notes on the book.

Peter Singer. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution and Moral Progress. (1981, 2011)

‘Through reasoning we can take an increasingly impartial concern for the interests of all and broaden the circle of moral subjects to include all sentient beings. Our evolved moral instincts are not trustworthy, but we can use reason to get beyond our evolved natures and make better choices.’ My notes on the book.

Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer. Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction. (2017)

‘Utilitarianism as a leading moral theory has a long history and is enjoying a revival. Arguments for and against utilitarianism are set out and it is concluded that utilitarianism is well supported, notably by recent work from Joshua Greene. Utilitarianism is valuable, and its proponents continue to support reforms to promote happiness and relieve suffering.’ My notes on the book.

Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer. The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics. (2014)

‘The book sets out Sidgwick’s utilitarian position, relates it to more recent literature and argues compellingly for a Sidgwickian contemporary utilitarianism. Impartial reasoning and the direct awareness of pleasure are central to utilitarianism, and unlike our partial intuitions these cannot be debunked by considering evolutionary origins.’ My notes on the book.

Joshua Greene. Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them (2013)

‘Our moral instincts have evolved for cooperation in groups but cause conflict between groups. We have both automatic moral emotions and the capacity to employ utilitarian reasoning and we should use utilitarianism as a common currency to resolve disputes. Rather than rationalizing our intuitive moral convictions we should transcend the limitations of our tribal gut reactions.’ My notes on the book.

Steven Pinker. Rationality: What it is, Why it Seems Scarce, Why it Matters (2021)

‘We have an elementary faculty of reason and have developed techniques that magnify its scope. The normative tools of reason should be taught and practiced, and care is needed to avoid mistakes of reasoning. All our beliefs should fall within a reality mindset, but the human mind is adapted to understanding remote spheres through a mythology mindset.’ My notes on the book.

Anil Seth. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (2021)

‘Our perceptions are controlled hallucinations, a top-down, inside-out neuronal fantasy that is reined in by reality, not a transparent window onto whatever that reality may be. ‘ My notes on the book.

A Person Has No Soul

‘Am I the same person as my 10-year-old self? In the sense of having the same identifiable body: yes. In the sense of psychological continuity: partly. In the sense of having the same soul: no such thing.’ A short essay on bodily, psychological and essence concepts of personhood.

How Both Human History and The History Of Ethics May be Just Beginning

My favourite philosophical passage is the final section of Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons. In a few paragraphs he introduces two profound ideas: the importance of humanity’s long-term future and that non-religious ethics has only just begun. I discuss the passage in historical context and add my thoughts on how ethics has been stunted by religion and non-cognitivism and how clarifying meta-ethics could clear the ground for normative ethics.

Do Value Judgements Have A Simple Nature?

A briefer statement of my view that normativity is end-relational and that appreciating this resolves the mysteries of practical reason.

If Morality Is An Illusion Does Anything Matter?

Morality is erroneously considered to be objective, but I argue this does not affect what matters as morality is only a small element within practical reason. A paper for my Birkbeck MA.