Julian Baggini

If philosophy is to be a valuable part of life, we have to appreciate it for its own sake, and not just for what it's done for us lately.

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

Philosophy is at its most engaged when it is impure. What is being recovered from the Ancient Greek model is not some lost idea of philosophy's pure essence, but the idea that philosophy is mixed up with everything else.

I don't feel proprietorial about the problems of philosophy. History has taught us that many philosophical issues can grow up, leave home and live elsewhere.

The border between the natural and the supernatural, religion and philosophy, may not always be clear. But there are lines, and we should know and accept which side of it we are on.

Dover's cliffs call to mind the Roman invasion; the Battle of Britain; our proximity to, yet difference from, mainland Europe; and international trade and exploration, both fair and exploitative.

We can take suffering to be an opportunity to learn and to grow. But if we are honest, we should remember that this is making the best of a bad job, and that minimising suffering takes priority over optimising its outcome.

That which does not kill me makes me stronger' is not a law of the universe. What it can be, if we so choose, is a resolution.

The very act of questioning whether you exist proves you do, because you must be there for the doubt to be entertained in the first place.

No one who has understood even a fraction of what science has told us about the universe can fail to be in awe of both the cosmos and of science.

If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.

Being a good neighbour is about compassion, which is as warm-blooded as justice is cool-headed.