Unthinkable: Great ideas for now by Joe Humphreys review: short and lively

Unthinkable

Author: Joe Humphreys

ISBN-13: 9780907011507

Publisher: Irish Times Books

Guideline Price: €14.99

Unthinkable was born on World Philosophy Day 2013 “as a small gesture towards imagining a different future”. This search for a different future was prompted by Humphreys’ frustration with the economic crisis that hit Ireland and the global economy in 2008.

A crisis can generate new thinking which can change people’s lives – for better or worse. The appalling economic crisis during the 1930s gave rise to Hitler, but it also produced Keynes’ General Theory of Economics, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and an impressive array of policies that ultimately helped to bring about the welfare states, near-full employment and rising living standards enjoyed by many western countries from the late 1940s to the 1970s. (Ireland proved an exception for most of that time).

It is too early as yet to say whether the recent crisis has produced anything as positive; one apparent outcome has been the undermining of traditional party politics, which may result in new forms of government, in Ireland and elsewhere.

Humphreys enlisted 70 scholars from Ireland and further afield to respond to a range of big questions – on government, ethics, the economy, science, education and culture. The exercise was also a contribution to President Michael D Higgins’ ethics initiative. Most contributors are philosophers or from closely-related disciplines. None of the contributions on the economy are from economists, and no cultural practitioner or scholar in that specific field has contributed to the section on culture.

Some of the questions posed appear eminently qualified for the “unthinkable” label. Michael Marder tackles the question “Is it ethical to eat plants?” A closer reading shows that he offers a reflection on the ecological and ethical implications of cultivating or destroying crops or forests, and perhaps more importantly, he moves the argument beyond personal choice to social concerns.

But many contributions address issues that are more likely to figure in everyday conservation, such as whistleblowing, cheating in sport, celebrating St Patrick’s Day, what does taking selfies signify, or whether we should engage in self-improvement.

Others address weighty matters of contemporary concern. Dame Onora O’Neill provides some robust comments on the question of rights and duties. She notes that “rights have so much more charm to people than duties”. If rights are to be meaningful, it is important to determine how they will be delivered. Kimberley Brownlee sets out the case for civil disobedience, and the necessary constraints that should be placed on its exercise. Religion features prominently throughout the collection, including Richard Kearney tackling the question, “Should atheists tolerate God”; Alexandra Grieser, “Is religion just a matter of taste”, and Linda Hogan responding to “Should religions get out of educatio?” Hogan argues that “the same norms of civility and goodwill should apply to religious debate as to political debate” – though she might have to modify the latter phrase in the light of recent US presidential debates.

These contributions are not designed to give clear-cut answers to contemporary issues. However, they can provide a framework for debate and analysis. One underlying theme is the importance of civility and toleration. Peter Bowler – a leading authority on Charles Darwin – suggests that the conflict between science and religion was not inevitable, and that the issues of evolution and natural selection could have emerged “in a less confrontational manner that would make them easier for religious thinkers and moralists to accept”. Dealing with more contemporary debates, Maria Baghramian suggests that pluralism – respecting the legitimacy of different attitudes and values – is the key to resolving conflicts “through compromise and accommodation”.

Whether this book offers an answer to the post-2008 economic crisis is questionable; and while many of the contributors are highly critical of the contemporary global capitalist economy they fail to offer a realistic alternative. However, these short and lively pieces have the capacity to generate a more reflective and more measured debate on many issues that feature prominently in contemporary political and social debate, and taken together they make a strong case for the contribution that philosophy and other non-vocational disciplines can make to society.

It is perhaps fitting that the argument that research should be expected to always give value for money is refuted by by neurologist Orla Hardiman, the only medical clinician to contribute to this volume: “we need to support really imaginative and creative people in any kind of research environment”.

The final contribution from Stephen Costello, “Is thinking the best medicine”, makes the case for less Prozac and more Plato. This book offers Socrates, Newman, Berkeley and much more. My prescription would be to read one or two entries at a time.

Mary E Daly is a historian and President of the Royal Irish Academy. Her most recent book is Sixties Ireland. Reshaping the economy, society and the state, 1957-73, published by Cambridge University Press, which will be reviewed in The Irish Times this Saturday

Unthinkable by Joe Humphreys is available to buy from irishtimes.com/irishtimesbooks for €14.99 with free p&p to addresses in Ireland or in good bookshops. To buy a copy of Unthinkable, click here