Author Archives: Kenan Malik

GOD, THE UNIVERSE AND A BACON SARNIE

October 10, 2011 by Kenan Malik

The latest strip from the irrepressible Jesus and Mo may seem like a typical dig at the inconsistencies and illogicalities of religious faith. But, in its own inimitable way, it taps into one of the most difficult theological conumdrums for believers. A common argument in the increasingly tedious ‘God Wars’ is the claim by believers that atheists are naive about religious belief. They read holy books too literally and think of God as an old man with a white beard. […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: aquinas, aristotle, atheism, christianity, god, jesus and mo, morality, muslim rationalism, new atheism, religion, sam harris, secularism, terry eagleton, theology, via negativa

MORAL HAZARD AND THE EURO CRISIS

October 7, 2011 by Kenan Malik

The crisis that this week engulfed the Franco-Belgian Dexia Bank revealed how close Europe is to a new banking meltdown, and to an economic crisis that could be as devastating as that of 2008. It also revealed the dirty little secret about the eurozone crisis. Last week, after a lot of political arm-twisting, the Bundestag approved extra funds for an expanded European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) ostensibly for the bailout of Greece. In truth, Germany – and other eurozone nations […]

Categories: Economy • Tags: austerity, capitalism, economic crisis, euro crisis, european union, greece, jamie whyte, moral hazard

MORALITY AND THE LEFT

October 4, 2011 by Kenan Malik

‘Why talk of morality?’ It’s a question I get asked a lot, especially as I am writing a book on the history of moral thought. Many on the left are uncomfortable with, indeed hostile to, moral arguments. Morality, they insist, is the province of the right. Politics is the true terrain of the left. Engaging in moral debate is, in their eyes, a means of constraining, not of promoting, social change. It is true that the right often exploit morality […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: freedom struggles, liberties, modernity, morality, terry eagleton

NOT SO AUTUMNAL COLOURS

October 2, 2011 by Kenan Malik

In a blooming London garden:

Categories: Photos • Tags: photos

FIVE BOOKS ON MORALITY WITHOUT GOD

September 23, 2011 by Kenan Malik

I was asked by the The Browser, a wonderful, indispensable website that trawls the web and fishes out some of the best writing, to choose, for its ‘Five books’ section, five books (naturally) on morality without God. Here’s my somewhat eclectic list and the interview that accompanies it. Many believers think that the only way to be truly moral is to follow a religion which teaches us morality. How would you respond? One of the great selling points of religions – […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion • Tags: al-ma'arri, arab literature, camus, dostoevsky, enlightenment, ethics, euthyphro dilemma, god, greek philosophy, human agency, humanism, islam, jonathan israel, plato, radical enlightenment, religion, secularism, spinoza

IN PRAISE OF RAY TALLIS

September 21, 2011 by Kenan Malik

A reporter from the US Chronicle of Higher Education contacted me to see if I was willing to be interviewed about Ray Tallis. Apparently the Chronicle is running a big spread about Tallis to mark the American launch of his new book Aping Mankind. I was more than happy to offer my views. I have long thought of Tallis as one of the hidden treasures of British culture, to set alongside the likes of the Horniman Museum, Little Atoms and […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics, Science & Technology • Tags: human agency, human nature, humanism, john gray, neuroscience, public intellectuals, ray tallis

AS ONCE IT WAS

September 11, 2011 by Kenan Malik

Before 9/11: photos of Lower Manhattan & the Twin Towers taken in 1998. From my photoblog another lonely pixel:

Categories: Photos • Tags: 9/11, new york, twin towers

DO WE NEED MORALITY?

September 7, 2011 by Kenan Malik

The philosopher Joel Marks caused a stir recently with an essay in the New York Times. Called ‘Confessions of an ex-moralist’, the essay explained how Marks had come to realize that there is nothing objective about morality and that moral choices are simply subjective preferences: A friend had been explaining to me the nature of her belief in God. At one point she likened divinity to the beauty of a sunset: the quality lay not in the sunset but in […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: ethics, secularism, religion, sam harris, jean katz, russell blackford, amoralism, moral nihilism

DARKNESS FALLS ON SOUTH LONDON

September 4, 2011 by Kenan Malik

For those who live in South London (or rather for those who don’t), the view tonight from the top of Blythe Hill Fields:

Categories: Photos • Tags: london

IS IT ANTIQUATED TO BELIEVE IN SOCIAL PROGRESS?

September 3, 2011 by Kenan Malik

In June I wrote a post questioning Brazil’s ‘no contact’ policy towards uncontacted Amazonian tribes. A version of that blog post was published as an essay in Göteborgs-Posten. The essay (like my post) attracted a lot of critical comment. It led to a short debate last week on the pages of the newspaper between myself and Dan Rosengren, associate professor of social anthropology at the Institute for Global Studies at Göteborgs University. The Swedish version of the debate is not available […]

Categories: International, Politics • Tags: anthropology, brazil, culture, dan rosengren, ethics, modernity, progress, racial science

LAY MY BURDEN DOWN

September 1, 2011 by Kenan Malik

David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, the last of the great Delta bluesmen, who died this week:

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, david honeyboy edwards, delta blues, music

SPINOZA, LOCKE AND THE BATTLE OVER TOLERATION

August 27, 2011 by Kenan Malik

In my recent post on ‘Rethinking the idea of Christian Europe’, I mentioned the debate between the Radical and the mainstream Enlightenment, a debate superbly explored by Jonathan Israel in his books Radical Enlightenment and Enlightenment Contested. The mainstream Enlightenment of Kant, Locke, Voltaire and Hume is the one of which we know and which provides the public face of the Enlightenment. But it was the Radical Enlightenment, shaped by lesser-known figures such as d’Holbach, Diderot, Condorcet and, in particular, […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Free Speech, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: atheism, christianity, enlightenment, free speech, freedom of worship, jonathan israel, liberties, locke, radical enlightenment, religion, secularism, spinoza, tolerance

JASON BURKE ON ISLAMIC MILITANCY

August 23, 2011 by Kenan Malik

British journalist Jason Burke, one of the more perceptive writers on the issues of Islam, Islamism and the war on terror, has chosen five books on Islamic militancy for The Browser. And among the five is From Fatwa to Jihad. A snippet from his interview:

Categories: War on terror • Tags: british asians, british politics, From Fatwa to Jihad, identity politics, islamism, jason burke, jihadism, kenan malik's books, muslims, rushdie affair, terrorism, war on terror

RETHINKING THE IDEA OF ‘CHRISTIAN EUROPE’

August 19, 2011 by Kenan Malik

UPDATE: this post won the 2011 3QD Politics and Social Sciences Prize. In the warped mind of Anders Behring Breivik, his murderous rampage in Oslo and Utoøya were the first shots in a war in defence of Christian Europe. Not a religious war but a cultural one. Breivik acknowledged that he was not religious but, he wrote in his manifesto in a section entitled ‘Distinguishing between cultural Christendom and religious Christendom’: Myself and many more like me do not necessarily […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, History, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: aquinas, aristotle, christianity, christopher caldwell, clash of civilizations, dante, dark ages, enlightenment, ethics, eurabia, god, greek philosophy, jesus, jonathan israel, judaism, judeo-christian tradition, liberalism, modernity, muslim rationalism, muslims, original sin, radical enlightenment, religion, secularism, stoicism, universalism, western civilization

ARTS FOR WHOSE SAKE?

July 5, 2011 by Kenan Malik

Today Index on Censorship published its report, Beyond Belief – Theatre, Freedom of Expression and Public Order. Taking as its starting point the controversies surrounding Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s 2004 play Behzti – which was forced off stage by violent demonstrations by members of the Sikh community outraged by scenes in the play depicting rape and violence in a gurdwara – and her 2010 follow-up work Behud, the report explores the issue of the policing of controversial art. Among those contributing to the report are Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Free Speech • Tags: behzti, cultural policy, free speech, gurpreet kaur bhatti, liberties, multiculturalism, social inclusion