The Challenge of Things

August 1, 2015

Grayling (philosophy & master of the college, New Coll. of the Humanities, London; Toward the Light of Liberty) has collected a number of short essays that range widely over philosophy, politics, European and Asian history, the history of science, and literature. Grayling unifies the pieces around a strong defense of liberal values, meaning by these not so much a particular political program but rather a commitment to freedom and reason. The author sees such ideals as threatened by religion, of which he is a determined opponent. Another enemy is postmodernism; he sees it is an obscurantist denial of rationality. Having dispatched his rivals in the book's first part, Grayling turns in the second to praise of views that are in accord with his own. His luminous writings on Ronald Dworkin and H.G. Wells are especially well done. VERDICT Not everyone will find Grayling's humanist views palatable, but he writes with great clarity and vigor. He is a genuine "public intellectual" of the sort about whom he writes. The book will be of interest to any educated general reader and compares favorably with Christopher Hitchens, arguably.--David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OH

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