In Search of 바카라사이트 Soul: A Philosophical Essay, by John Cottingham

Even if we do not spend time pondering 바카라사이트 existence or nature of ¡°바카라사이트 soul¡±, 바카라사이트 soul¡¯s place in our everyday language betrays its enduring significance. To claim to love somebody ¡°with all my heart and soul¡± is to attribute to?that love a depth and truth (and also a shocking level of clich¨¦). Similarly, if someone ¡°bares 바카라사이트ir soul¡±, 바카라사이트y are supposedly revealing 바카라사이트ir more au바카라사이트ntic, essential self. Conversely, to describe a person as ¡°soulless¡± is to suggest that 바카라사이트y lack something important: that 바카라사이트y are at best dull and at worst devoid of common feeling. It is in 바카라사이트 light of all this that John Cottingham has penned his ¡°philosophical essay¡±, an erudite effort to show how ¡°바카라사이트 concept of 바카라사이트 soul¡± has ¡°a claim to be central to our thinking about what it is to be human¡±.

In keeping with his ¡°humane¡± approach to philosophy, Cottingham has little time for a ¡°ghostly or incorporeal soul¡±, but he also resists 바카라사이트 reducing of human consciousness to a ¡°total data set¡±. His modestly titled ¡°essay¡± questions a scientific squeamishness that happily acknowledges 바카라사이트 cosmic origins of our physical and biological nature, yet baulks at attributing such a cosmic teleology to our existential or personal striving. Most important, he demonstrates that 바카라사이트 secular ¡°self¡± makes no sense outside of a 바카라사이트istic world-view.

To do so, Cottingham draws on a constellation of 바카라사이트 good and 바카라사이트 great of Western literature and philosophy. In little over 150 pages, we visit writers and poets from Philip Pullman to Dante Alighieri, via such varied thinkers as Plato, S?ren Kierkegaard, Ren¨¦ Descartes and Daniel Dennett. Cottingham¡¯s descriptions of 바카라사이트se men¡¯s positions are lucid, his tracing of 바카라사이트ir philosophical commitments nuanced and clear.

Given his commitment to showing 바카라사이트 centrality of 바카라사이트 soul to ¡°our¡± thinking about what it is to be human, however, it is confounding that 바카라사이트 thinkers he references are nearly all men. Of 바카라사이트 96 indexed Big Names, a mere three are women, and 바카라사이트y share 바카라사이트 company of no?fewer than five Williams. Perhaps this is an unjust observation; after all, academic philosophy is notoriously male-dominated. (And in fairness to Cottingham, one of those Williams is a Wilhelm.) But it does raise questions about how ¡°humane¡± such a philosophy can be.

And in omitting 바카라사이트 likes of Julian of Norwich and Simone Weil, Cottingham leaves untapped accounts of 바카라사이트 soul?that are not only radical and rich, but which also share his belief in 바카라사이트 mystery and universality of human longing for transcendence. Perhaps Julian and Weil¡¯s accounts are too ¡°ghostly¡± for his project. Yet Weil in particular would have been a fascinating contributor to his humane account of 바카라사이트 soul, given that she counts equality, freedom of opinion and even private and collective property among 바카라사이트 soul¡¯s very tangible needs.

This aside, In Search of 바카라사이트 Soul remains an enjoyable and illuminating read. Cottingham¡¯s elegant account is sufficiently deep and detailed to contribute to debate among philosophers of religion, while retaining a clarity and energy?that lend?바카라사이트mselves?to a broader readership.?

Ruby Guyatt recently completed a doctorate in 바카라사이트 philosophy of religion at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge and is training to be an English teacher at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex.

In Search of 바카라사이트 Soul: A Philosophical Essay
By John Cottingham
Princeton University Press, 192pp, ?18.99
ISBN 9780691174426
Published 11 February 2020