Professor of Philosophy Sarah McGrath recalls watching Gordon-Smith deliver “the most effective undergraduate lecture I have ever seen anyone give anywhere, ever, on any topic. I believe that I saw Princeton undergraduate students fall in love with philosophy there before my eyes that morning.” Perhaps a more rounded conclusion would have been nice (what does it say about Russian interference in western politics, social media marketing etc?), but then she has mostly avoided being too academic in her style here, so perhaps that is deliberate. One other observation that has only occurred to me as I'm writing this review is the fact that this is an empirical philosophy approach - I was recently told that is fairly uncommon. The second question we can accidentally embark on in the guise of asking what we want is: “How can I have an ideal life?” When we ask that, we start to stress over all the possible ways we could improve things. Improvement is in principle never-ending, so the stress of trying to achieve it is also never-ending. If I lived elsewhere, would things feel a little better? What about if I had some more money, or a different job, or a different schedule or hobbies? Around each corner, after each tweak, the promise of a slightly better life. Avusturalya'da ulusal düzeyde yarışmış ve şampiyon olmuş eski bir münazaracı olan Eleanor Gordon-Smith uzun bir dönemini tartışma tekniklerine, akıl yürütmeye ve düzgün argümanlarla insanların fikirlerini değiştirmeye adamış.

Overall, I agree with the author that people are motivated by emotion, relationships, and their sense of self (especially the person's values). Few people are truly motivated by reason. I think that's because the question of how a person should live their life is not a question that can be answered logically. There is no logical formula for living a good life. Given the choice of one or the other, I think just about everyone would choose to be happy over being reasonable. That’s what gets you to part two; finding equilibrium with the remainder. Even when we’ve put serious elbow grease into making a life we’re proud of, there will be moments of loneliness and grief and worry. They may even be frequent. It can be tempting then to abandon the changes we’ve made, thinking “why bother?” – as though the things we fill our life with have betrayed us if we still don’t feel full. Resist that temptation as much as you can. Pain is an inevitable part of living; by staying engaged with the world and other people we can come to see that feeling as a companion to joy instead of a threat.How do I figure out what I want? I feel like I am good at achieving goals that I care about, but I’m hopeless at deciding what goals to pursue. I don’t know what I want and I’ve gotten increasingly anxious about it over the last five to 10 unhappy years. I’m anxious to set any goals because I feel like I’m absolutely unable to decide what to do. Christopher Parton is expected to graduate this year with a Ph.D. in musicology. He served as the Quin Morton ’36 Teaching Fellow in the Princeton Writing Program, teaching a writing seminar titled “Sound and the City” that examines what can be learned about a city’s history, community and ecology from listening to an urban environment. Where doubts are raised about some of the presumed uses of reason or rationality, they are not really replaced by recommendations about how to proceed, as the author openly concedes in the final chapter. Gordon-Smith is doubtless right about some of the failings of - for example - argumentative public debates, and she doesn't quite suggest throwing the baby out with the bathwater (despite the title, the uses of reason do come up throughout the book one way or another, and while she outlines other processes at work, reason is usually there trundling along as a baseline). There's some good food for thought about everyday decision-making and everyday psychology, I just didn't get much of a feeling about how the various critical insights could alter the less 'everyday' concerns, such as the structure of public discourse or science communication. In Stop Being Reasonable, philosopher and journalist Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells six lucid, gripping stories that show the limits of human reason.

Truthfully I think the most we can hope for is a greater appreciation for the profound fragility of the things that normally keep us functioning. Our friendships, entertainment, ways of being in the world, all so easily threatened by simply not being able to leave the house very much. I have found that very humbling, and very difficult. I hope also we can learn to be a little more compassionate with ourselves about the fact that we are all creatures who need to live and will one day die. Before Covid, it was very easy to see each other and ourselves as our jobs, or athletic achievements, or how we’re measuring up to a set of criteria about how our lives “should” be going. Seeing everybody’s houses and children and needs via Zoom will I hope let us be compassionate about the fact that we all have them, and there’s no shame in taking care of them. We’ve all had a guilty pleasure of sorts during the pandemic. Can you share with us yours? The point here (which can be readinl seen in what passes for political debates across much of the Western world) is that not only is this presumption incorrect, it's not particularly helpful. I've never read anything quite like this book; it is empathetic, sharply intelligent, and accessible.' — Ellen Cregan, Kill Your Darlings

On that note, I know it’s easier said than done, but try not to be too fearful that this has damaged your reputation. You may be surprised how many people already know and love an addict. When it’s your dirty laundry hanging bleach-bright for everyone to see, it’s easy to think you’ll be judged into damnation, but try to remember what it’s like when you see someone else’s.