Book Review - The Reason of Things by A.C. Grayling

The Reason of Things : Living with Philosophy by A.C. Grayling

London: Phoenix, 2003                           ISBN 9780753817131

A.C. Grayling, along with Roger Scruton, are probably the best-known English philosophers of the current day, primarily due to their willingness to engage with the mainstream, via mass media and trade publishing. The Reason of Things is a compilation of Grayling's articles and book reviews for various English newspapers. These essays are grouped into various themed sections. Most of them are only a couple of pages long, and thus are not in-depth views of the problems discussed. For me, this was a disappointing book to read.

I was amazed to find within these pages so much generalization where more specificity was required, and some entrenched views that Grayling would do well to re-visit or temper. A glaring example in this collection is Grayling's antipathy to organized religion. He takes every chance to expose the harm that religion has done through human history, but never acknowledges the good done in the name of God by countless thousands over millennia. He is quick to blame religion for war, when politics is just as guilty. In one essay he condemns religion as "worse than an irrelevance" because its strictures of giving to the poor and selflessness are so much against human nature. Yet in many other essays in this book Grayling praises the Stoics and the Ancient Greek search for the good life, which to me seems to be the same thing that he excoriates when it is put forward in the name of God. It suggests to me that Grayling's views on religion betray his feelings rather than logical thought. I wonder how much Grayling has read the religious philosophers such as Augustine and the other Church Fathers, as there is much in them that he would agree with, given what he praises in this book.

Many of the essays in this book are fairly straightforward and unobjectionable in content; well written to fit into a Saturday supplement. The best by far are the final few, which delve into literature and the practice of philosophy itself. Grayling's essay on the art of the essay serves to remind the reader not to neglect the genre, as it is often where the most thoughtful writing can be found. The importance of intelligent reviewing is emphasised in another of the final essays.

The essay "Becoming Philosophical" is an insight into how Grayling became the person he is, and again is a well written piece.

I purchased this book second-hand while on a trip with my family. The short essays - bite-sized bits of thought - make it a perfect travel book. I just wish it had a bit more depth.


Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell