From Aristotle to Iris Murdoch: what the greatest minds of the past 2,500 years have to tell us about the good life. Julian Baggini shares 10 top tips on thinking and living well.
Thinking well requires adopting the right attitudes and being prepared to nurture effective habits. Without these “intellectual virtues” even the cleverest end up merely playing theoretical games.
Throughout history wise men and women have applied themselves to these problems in the service of their own development and that of humankind. Rather than start from scratch, why not draw on thousands of years of experience, and millions of hours of reflection and practice? Here is what some of the greatest philosophers in history can tell us about how to think – and live – well.
1. Be sincere
“A wrangler is one who aims only at victory, being indifferent whether the arguments which he employs support his own contention or that of his opponent.”
Akapāda Gautama
2. Be charitable
“People’s real reasons for reaching their practical conclusions are so often not the ones they give in their arguments.”
Janet Radcliffe Richards
3. Be humble
“I’m not clever, I don’t find arguments easy to follow.”
Philippa Foot
4. Keep it simple, but not simplistic
“It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.”
William of Ockham
5. Watch your language
“What is necessary is to rectify names.”
Kongzi
6. Be eclectic
“I suspect I’ve always been an awful trespasser.”
Onora O’Neill
7. Think for yourself, not by yourself
“No culture has a monopoly on wisdom, no culture embodies all the great values, and therefore each culture has a great deal to learn from others, through dialogue.”
Bhikhu Parekh
8. Seek clarity not certainty
“Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
9. Pay attention
“Attention is rewarded by a knowledge of reality.”
Iris Murdoch
10. Follow the mean
“Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean.”
Aristotle
For more detail and advise on these points, please read the full blog here:
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