Stop Being Reasonable: six stories of how we really change our minds - Softcover

Gordon-Smith, Eleanor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1912854147 ISBN 13: 9781912854141

Publisher: Scribe UK, 2019

Synopsis

What if you aren't who you think you are?

What if you don't really know the people closest to you?

And what if your most deeply-held beliefs turn out to be ... wrong?

In Stop Being Reasonable, philosopher and journalist Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells six lucid, gripping stories that show the limits of human reason.

From the woman who realised her husband harboured a terrible secret, to the man who left the cult he had been raised in since birth, and the British reality TV contestant who, having impersonated someone else for a month, discovered he could no longer return to his former identity, all of the people interviewed radically altered their beliefs about the things that matter most.

What made them change course? How should their reversals affect how we think about our own beliefs? And in an increasingly divided world, what do they teach us about how we might change the minds of others?

Inspiring, perceptive, and often moving, Stop Being Reasonable explores the place where philosophy and real life meet. Ultimately, it argues that when it comes to finding out what's true or convincing others about what we know, being rational might involve our hearts as well as our minds.

About this title

Review:

'I knew how piercingly smart Eleanor Gordon-Smith is, and what a curious and resolute interviewer. But I was unprepared for how entertainingly she writes! I read this with pleasure.' --Ira Glass

'A frank and thoughtful new voice ... this is an assured and companionable guide through the wilderness of contemporary ethics.' --Shahidha Bari

'This is a funny, sharp-edged and deeply serious book about a mainstream myth: that we all know what rationality demands. A pleasure to read.' --Amia Srinivasan

About the Author:

Eleanor Gordon-Smith is a reporter, ethicist, and recovering champion debater. Currently at Princeton University, she has lectured on topics from the foundations of the political state to the philosophy of sex. Her work has appeared in NPR's This American Life, Australia's Radio National, the ABC, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and Meanjin.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribe UK
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1912854147
• ISBN 13: 9781912854141
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224