Historical and philosophical studies - In Search of Wisdom

The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes

Posted by Dr Terry Cooke-Davies | Jul 5, 2022 | Books |

Wasn’t the twentieth century the most violent in history? In his extraordinary, epic book Steven Pinker shows us that this is wrong, telling the story of humanity in a completely new and unfamiliar way. From why cities make us safer to how books bring about peace, Pinker weaves together history, philosophy and science to examine why we are less likely to die at another’s hand than ever before, how it happened and what it tells us about our very natures. – amazon.co.uk

Don’t Just Look Up – Pay Attention

Posted by Dr Terry Cooke-Davies | Jan 19, 2022 | Blog Post, Philosophy, Science, Spirituality |

Netflix’s new satirical science fiction film, Don’t Look Up, set viewing records when it started streaming on Christmas Eve in 2021. It lampoons government, political and media indifference to a catastrophic threat to the survival of homo sapiens, but unsurprisingly offers no diagnosis for how humanity got itself into such a dire state. Coincidentally, Iain McGilchrist’s magisterial new book The Matter with Things was published just six weeks before the movie, and it offers a vision based in well-researched neuroscience of how humanity could return to a better way of living.

Ways of Attending: How our Divided Brain Constructs the World

Posted by Dr Terry Cooke-Davies | Jan 10, 2022 | Books |

Attention is not just receptive, but actively creative of the world we inhabit. How we attend makes all the difference to the world we experience. And nowadays in the West we generally attend in a rather unusual way: governed by the narrowly focussed, target-driven left hemisphere of the brain.– amazon.co.uk

The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World

Posted by Dr Terry Cooke-Davies | Jan 9, 2022 | Books |

Is the world essentially inert and mechanical – nothing but a collection of things for us to use? Are we ourselves nothing but the playthings of chance, embroiled in a war of all against all? Why, indeed, are we engaged in destroying everything that is valuable to us?

In his international bestseller, The Master and his Emissary, McGilchrist demonstrated that each brain hemisphere provides us with a radically different ‘take’ on the world, and used this insight to deliver a fresh understanding of the main turning points in the history of Western civilisation.
In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces – ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today. — amazon.co.uk

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

Posted by Dr Terry Cooke-Davies | Jan 9, 2022 | Books |

In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding – and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorizing?
Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower. — amazon.co.uk

Subject: Historical and philosophical studies

Don’t Just Look Up – Pay Attention

Ways of Attending: How our Divided Brain Constructs the World

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