Kenan Malik | Pandaemonium

DESCARTES’ GHOST

May 12, 2013 by Kenan Malik

In completing my book on the history of moral thought I had to reduce the original manuscript by some 30,000 words to get it to a reasonable size. Much of what has been lost is better off left on the cutting room floor. There are, however, some sections coherent enough to be worth reading. So, I am running an occasional series publishing some of the more cogent ‘lost pages’ from the book. The first was on Machiavelli. This extract is on Descrates and […]

Categories: History of moral thought • Tags: descartes, dualism, history of ideas, history of moral thought, human nature, renaissance

ON MACHIAVELLI

April 17, 2013 by Kenan Malik

My book on the history of moral thought is written. In the process, I had to reduced the ms by some 30,000 words. Much of that is better off left on the cutting room floor. But there are also some portions coherent enough to be worth reading. So, I am running an occasional series publishing some of the more cogent sections that are no longer in the book. This first of the ‘missing pages’ is on Machiavelli. ‘A prince never […]

Categories: History of moral thought • Tags: history of ideas, history of moral thought, machiavelli, morality

MULTICULTURALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS

April 3, 2013 by Kenan Malik

My big book – on the history of moral thought – will be published by Atlantic next spring. Before that comes a little book. Multiculturalism and its Discontents is an extended essay that pulls together much of my thinking and writing over the years on the subject. It will be published by Seagull this summer (Amazon says June, though it is more likely to be August). And here is the introduction. On 22 July 2011 Anders Behring Breivik planted a car bomb outside government […]

Categories: Kenan Malik, Multiculturalism • Tags: anders breivik, far right, immigration, kenan malik's books, melanie phillips, multiculturalism, racism

A BOOK IN PROGRESS [PART 6]: ISLAM, ORIGINS AND ETHICS

July 3, 2011 by Kenan Malik

Continuing the series of extracts from the book that I am writing on the history of moral thought, here is an an excerpt from Chapter 7, a chapter that explores the origins of Islam and of Islamic ethics. (Sharp-eyed readers of this blog might have noticed that Chapter 6 is missing from the series. That chapter explores early ethical thought in India and China and for pragmatic reasons I will not be writing it till later.) THERE WAS NOTHING ABOUT MUHAMMAD’S […]

Categories: History of moral thought • Tags: ethics, god, history of moral thought, muhammad, religion