Book Review/Rebuttal: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

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It's not that I don't recommend this book or that it doesn't offer a philosophical perspective that warrants review. It is worth reading but it fails to persuade as it offers only a simplified and narrow perspective of human behavior. It requires a wholesale acceptance of its premises and provides little in the way of relevant counterarguments. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is written well and is narrated masterfully by Anthony Heald in the Audible version I listened to. When engaging with this book I recommend being aware of its rhetorical tactics and remaining skeptical of its biased perspective.

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Consent in America?

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If consent is something people think is valuable then they should look at the way they act and the way they treat others skeptically. They should evaluate their actions as well as the actions of others to determine where consent was disregarded. In this way, people might live up to the standard of ethics that holds consent as a virtue. 

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You are NOT in a story

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Others can do what they want and the world can make up stories about it but it doesn’t mean that I have to take them seriously or agree with them. Stories are a part of life and they have as much power as we want to give them but stories are not the same as life.

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I Hate Thought Experiments

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While thought experiments are meant to challenge readers to think about things in different ways they always seem to miss the mark for me. They are like really bad stories with continuity errors, plot holes, and preachy subtext. Maybe it is because they are usually created by academics but thought experiments wreak of pretentious attempts to dumb down a moral, social, or scientific concept into a clever puzzle for the masses.

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Religion as Cultural OCD

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Would you rather do something because you think it has value or live with the harsh truth that what your doing is nonsense? Sometimes giving it up means losing that value you thought was there. If so, you would have to find value in other things and other activities. It might even be possible to engage in those activities for different reasons and retain the value that derives from them. If one gives up religion they give up a set a way of life and the consequences of that should not to be taken lightly.

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