The edge of reason : a rational skeptic in an irrational world / Julian Baggini.

Includes bibliographies and index.

"Reason, long held as the highest human achievement, is under siege. According to Aristotle, the capacity for reason sets us apart from other animals, yet today it has ceased to be a universally admired faculty. Rationality and reason have become political, disputed concepts, subject to easy dismissal. Julian Baggini argues eloquently that we must recover our reason and reassess its proper place, neither too highly exalted nor completely maligned. Rationality does not require a sterile, scientistic worldview, it simply involves the application of critical thinking wherever thinking is needed. Addressing such major areas of debate as religion, science, politics, psychology, and economics, the author calls for commitment to the notion of a "community of reason," where disagreements are settled by debate and discussion, not brute force or political power. His insightful book celebrates the power of reason, our best hope--indeed our only hope--for dealing with the intractable quagmires of our time"--

Cover page; Halftitle page; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; PART I: THE JUDGE; chapter one The Eternal God argument; 1. Big pictures, broad brushes; 2. Choose your bedrock; 3. The holism of reason; 4. Between a rock and hard node; 5. Reason as apologetics; 6. The dim light of reason; chapter two Science for humans; 1. Fitting the facts; 2. Scientific method; 3. The feeling of truth; 4. The impurity of science; chapter three Rationality and judgement; 1. Philosophy's dirty secret; 2. Logic and judgement; 3. The constraints of logic.

4. Scarce deductionsPART II: THE GUIDE; chapter four Lives of the mind; 1. The thinker and the thought; 2. The stories of our lives; chapter five The challenge of psychology; 1. Hot heads; 2. Not so fast; 3. Gendered reason; 4. One- trick ponies; chapter six Guided by reason; 1. Objectivity; 2. Five characteristics of the objective; 3. The boundaries of the rational; 4. Rational catholicism; 5. Ending the truth wars; PART III: THE MOTIVATOR; chapter seven Rational morality; 1. Rationally bound ethics; 2. Whose reasons?; 3. From facts to values; 4. Reasons for altruism.

5. The claims of consistencychapter eight Scientific morality; 1. The Moral Landscape; 2. Science contra morality; 3. Science and morality; chapter nine The claims of reason; 1. Reason's own 'ought'; 2. The rationality of the moral ought; 3. The passion of the philosopher; PART IV: THE KING; chapter ten The rational state; 1. Socrates' mistake; 2. The truth in conservatism; 3. Anarchism and communism; 4. Homo economicus; 5. Fatal traction; chapter eleven Political reason; 1. Political pluralism; 2. Threats to pluralism; 3. Secularism; 4. Secular pluralism renewed; Conclusion: using reason; 1. The uses of skepticism; 2. What is at stake; 3. A user's guide; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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