Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy

by Simon Blackburn

So is no set of concerns better than any other? Certainly they are. But their superiority does not lie in conformity to an independent normative order. Their superiority lies in the ways of life embodying them. A set of concerns that leads to lives that are loyal, friendly, grateful, prudent, sympathetic, fair is indeed superior to one that leads to lives that are treacherous, suspicious, malicious, careless, hard-hearted, unjust.

The harmony between our thoughts and the world, the bridge we build between past and future, the sense of what the physical world contains and how our minds fit into it, are all topics on which the finest thinkers have hurled themselves, only to be frustrated. There always seem to be better words, if only we could find them, just over the horizon.