Mindfields: return to the ducking stool

India's use of brain scanning to convict two people for murder is a travesty of justice, says A. C. Graylin

Throw caution to the wind, risk the whirlwind

The gung-ho proliferation of dams in the tectonically active Sichuan Province in China is evidence of carelessness, skewed values, and folly, says A.C. Grayling

In search of the essence of personality

A. C. Grayling assesses where we now stand on the question of what makes a person the same person throughout their life

Conversation on truth

Book synopsis: Following Conversations on Religion (Continuum 2008), here is a fascinating line up of original interviews tackling one of today's most vexing issues - that of truth. These discussions explore the question of what truth is, and what role it has in private, public, political and scientific discourses. Some thinkers, see truth as something concrete and immutable, others believe that it is an essentially meaningless concept. And for many contributors it is the practical application of truth which engages them. Each fascinating chapter explores the subject from a new angle, including Nick Davies and Peter Wilby's view on truth in the media, Prof. Martin Kusch's reflections in relation to science and Mary Warnock's consideration of truth in the context of ethics and art. Other contributors include Mary Midgely, Noam Chomsky and A. C. Grayling. This is a book of quite exceptional interest and importance

Truth, meaning and realism : essays in the philosophy of thought

This book serves as an excellent guide to Grayling’s main philosophical concerns and shows the intellectual underpinning of much of his more popular work. This volume of selected essays includes his work in the philosophy of language and philosophical logic, with particular focus on truth, judgment and the realism-anti-realism debate. Each essay is intended as a further contribution to previous topics covered and aims to bring them up-to-date. As such, this collection does not aspire to be the last word on a theory, but rather to advance a perspective and add relevant suggestions to understanding them further

Scepticism and the possibility of knowledge

A book on scepticism from Anthony Grayling is to be greatly valued. Grayling is rare among academic philosophers: he is not only a brilliant thinker, but also has the power to communicate serious ideas to a wide audience. The subject of Scepticism is one of particular interest to people today. It is well known that Grayling reserves particular scepticism for religious statements, but that is only part of this compelling new book. Scepticism as a philosophical term is as old as the Greeks but has more recently been advanced by Montaigne, Descartes and Hume. To these, what little we know that seems certain is based on observation and habit as opposed to any logical or scientific necessity. Thus, sceptical views relate directly to epistemology – the theory of knowledge and what we can know – and, in the modern turbulent world, it is Grayling’s contention that these are issues that all contemporary people need to focus on. In seeking understanding of the human condition we need more than just a set of beliefs about it: all belief is irrational. We want to know or garner some kind of proof about the fundamental truths of human existence. This is the crux of the dilemma facing intelligent people today and is greatly illuminated by this book

The physics of traffic

Beware congestion reduction schemes that treat vehicles as particles - they're likely to make the problem worse

Mindfields: between male and female

A few brave individuals are changing the simplistic stereotyping that aims to force us all into two distinct sexes