Jonathan Rée
Jonathan Rée describes himself a a “freelance philosopher and historian”, but anyone who has read his widely published journalism will know him as simply one of the best writers around. His writing has appeared in, among many others, the Evening Standard, the London Review of Books, Prospect, the Independent, and the Times Literary Supplement.
Articles by Jonathan Rée
Book review: The Divine Economy
Paul Seabright's new book describes how religions operate like businesses, competing for wealth and influence
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Deconstructing Derrida
Peter Salmon's new biography "An Event, Perhaps" cuts through the tendency to either adore or dismiss the controversial French philosopher.
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To face ecocide, we must all be philosophers
Philosophy is the 'enemy of habit', needed more than ever to confront the climate crisis.
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R.G. Collingwood on the corruption of democracy
The philosopher, historian and archaeologist argued for the importance of "politically educated public opinion".
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Like cats and dogs: why humans keep pets
Domesticated animals have been part of human society for tens of thousands of years. But can we really call it friendship?
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A Father’s daughter
In "Priestdaddy", the poet Patricia Lockwood has written a hilarious and revealing account of growing up with a Roman Catholic priest for a dad.
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How we invented nature
Today we take it for granted that something called “nature” exists. But the concept owes much to a Prussian adventurer
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What non-believers can learn from St Augustine
According to Rowan Williams, St Augustine does not deserve his bad reputation as a dogmatic braggart. Is he right?
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Faith in uncertainty: what early Christians believed about the afterlife
From the intellectual hotbed of late antiquity emerged some key Christian values – and some humanist ones too.
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Have world religions been the cause of violence throughout the ages?
As always, the devil is in the detail.
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What the Christians did for us
Do modern liberal values have their origins in religious tradition?
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Bertrand Russell’s lofty pacifism
He spent a lifetime opposing war – but how well does the legacy of our most famous peace activist stand up to scrutiny? By Jonathan Rée
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Deadly reason
Did too much rational thinking lead to the Holocaust? The German philosopher Theodor Adorno argued it did
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Wrong in the right way
He wasn’t infallible, but Ronald Dworkin’s courteously devastating arguments made everyone raise their game. Jonathan Rée reads his final book
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The rationalist way of death
Given that it has historically been annexed by religion, how should the non-believer mark death? Jonathan Rée dons his weeds and joins the procession. Illustration Jessica Chandler
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Book review: The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
The latest novel from "collapsed Catholic" Colm Tóibín – a fictionalised account of the "crochety old widow" Mary – confirms him to be the greatest living writer in English, says Jonathan Rée
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Book review: You must change your life by Peter Sloterdijk
Jonathan Rée enjoys the latest performance by 'the Lady Gaga of philosophy'
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The cult of science
In his latest book the great iconoclast Bruno Latour turns his gaze on religious belief, and unbelief, and argues that there is less difference between science and religion than atheists like to think. Does he convince? asks Jonathan Rée
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Book review: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Rée is entertained, but unimpressed, by the PT Barnum of cultural psychology
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Dissing God
Long before the New Atheists, believers – from Job to Heinrich Heine – were picking fights with the Almighty, says Jonathan Rée
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Varieties of irreligious experience
There are many ways not to believe. Jonathan Rée on the evoluton of atheist thought
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Rhyme & reason
200 years ago Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from Oxford for publishing ‘The Necessity of Atheism’. Jonathan Rée reassesses the romantic poet’s rationalism
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Antichrist
Likeable anarchist, modest Übermensch, atheist preacher – Jonathan Rée is delighted by the paradoxical philosopher
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Variety
The American philosopher William James died a hundred years ago. Jonathan Rée calls for a return to his humane example
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Book review: History and the Enlightenment by Hugh Trevor-Roper
Hugh Trevor-Roper mocked religion but he never underestimated it, nor did he succumb to the fashionable over-estimation of the Enlightenment, says Jonathan Rée
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Shadow pope
What do the Pope and the secular philosopher Jürgen Habermas have in common, asks Jonathan Rée
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Better, juster, nobler
A new collection of his essays on religion suggest that JS Mill is just the enlightened infidel we need today, says Jonathan Rée
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Life laid waste
The exiled Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski died in Oxford in July, at the age of 81. Jonathan Rée examines the legacy of a disillusioned socialist humanist
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Liberty, the Left and Lolita
Jonathan Rée assesses the legacy of Isaiah Berlin, a man so clever he could understand his own writing
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What’s an infidel?
Jonathan Rée consults the latest humanist dictionary
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East of Eden
Jonathan Ree reviews Fallen by David Maine
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Under the microscope
Jonathan Rée on Daniel Dennett's attempt to do away with religion scientifically
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The blasphemers of Johnson’s Court
New Humanist was launched under the title Watts's Literary Guide 120 years ago this month. Jonathan Rée digs in the archives
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Baby talk
Jonathan Rée on the scientist in all of us
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Evolution by Jerks
Stephen Jay Gould's last work reviewed by Jonathan Rée
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Austere Communist
Eric Hobsbawm's life, review by Jonathan Rée
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