MEDITATIONS FOR THE HUMANIST: Ethics for a Secular Age

In entries recalling W.V.O. Quine's famed Quiddities, eminent University of London philosopher Grayling, also a Guardian columnist, definitionally meditates on "Hope"; "Betrayal"; "Intemperance"; "Blasphemy"; "Capitalism"; "Poverty"; "Racism"; "Nationalism" and another 40-odd abstract terms we experience in a very real way every day. "Frankness is often a weapon deployed to wound or take revenge," writes Grayling, but this book's plain definitional attempts are more in line with aspects of "Reason": "Choosing sound premises is what matters, and it is solely a human responsibility." (May)