Over at Butterflies and Wheels, Ophelia Benson has posted this new interview with Udo Schuklenk and me, conducted by Tauriq Moosa. Please consider having a look.
Thanks to all concerned! Thanks especially to Tauriq, whose idea this was, I believe. But also to Ophelia for publishing it, and to Udo of course.
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
11 comments:
Great interview.
By the way, I twisted Claudia's arm and after lots of painful wimpering she stopped beating me up and let me dry my eyes and buy your book on Amazon. Strangely it says it's not in stock yet. Oh well, I'm sure it'll arrive soon enough.
My pleasure!
The publication date in the US seems to have slipped to 16 November, so it will still be "not in stock" at Amazon (although people have been getting it from Amazon UK, coz the UK publication date was 9 October). Hopefully, Amazon will be sending copies pretty much as soon as 16 November comes round.
Maybe y'all can consider it as a Christmas book to give to all your friends! :D
I posted a quote from your interview and a link to my FB group's wall.
I liked the line refuting the notion of "intellectual imperialism." Maybe the Platonism that seems par for the course with maths also applies to morality?
And I agree with you that religion is a political problem. I don't mind what people's personal beliefs are, but when unfounded irrational ideas become the impetus for political movements I find it very concerning for a number of reasons.
Good luck with your book, I look forward to reading it!
Ha! Just read the bit about going into Law or Politics: I have been told I should do that many times, and my response has been very similar to yours. I don't want to compromise on saying what I think, and I have a battalion of skeletons in a very large closet. I also want to be able to change my mind, whereas in politics that is seen as a weakness, not a strength. I've never been one to follow the money, I spent my 20s making installation art and organsing outdoor tree-planting festivals and free laneway multi-arts events in Melbourne. I hope to teach at uni one day (and I have a secret dream of publishing too), but if I'm not good enough for that, I'll probably end up teaching in high schools, which wouldn't be so bad.
Very good interview. Nice to find out more about your background, Russell.
Did you mean to say that 50-VOD was 'academic' on the same leve as Oppy and Mackie? I figured since some contributors weren't philosophers it would be less academically oriented.
If by my "idea" you mean I pestered you, Udo and Ophelia with threats of hell-fire until you acquiesced then bombarded your inboxes with my noise - then, yes, it was my idea since one must do what one can for one's friends. Glad to see it is also over at Dawkins' website.
Stuart I certainly didn't mean that it reads throughout like a very technical work of academic philosophy reads. It was just a throwaway line that it's possible to sample the thinking of lots of relevant authors by reading 50VoD.
"If you want the full academic approach, try Mackie's The Miracle of Theism and then perhaps tackle Oppy's Arguing About Gods. Or start with 50 Voices of Disbelief and sample the ideas of many contemporary writers and activists."
Yeah I figured it was just one sentence not quit following the other, damn imperfect english language. No disrespect to Mackie or Oppy (who is a great lecturer) but I found them both fairly unaccessible when I read them all those years ago.
Never read Oppy, but I thought Mackie's Miracle of theism was pretty accessible. I got a lot out of it when I read it. Sobel's Logic and theism is a bit more intractable. You need to know modal logic for some sections....
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