Kenan Malik

The paralysing pessimism of Critical Race Theory

The belief that racism is ineradicable has inevitably shaped the character of antiracism today

13 June 2023

Could empathy do us more harm than good?

Today, it is taken as given that empathy is a driving force for good. But is reason a more useful and compassionate approach?

27 June 2017

Is there a choice?

Philosophers and scientists have long agonised over the question of free will. Two new books, by Julian Baggini and John Gray, offer some very different answers.

8 June 2015

Politics by other means

To understand the origins of the First World War, we must understand imperial rivalries and the racism that underpinned them

28 July 2014

People power

The history of Western art tells a story of how humans came to think of themselves as beings who could shape the world

17 March 2014

On the importance of the right to offend

30 January 2014

In defence of diversity

Those who warn of the devastating effects of modern immigration need to brush up on their history

11 December 2013

Seeing reason: Jonathan Israel’s radical vision

Historian Jonathan Israel's magisterial three-volume history of the 'Radical Enlightenment' is the intellectual version of a JCB, ripping up the terrain around him. Kenan Malik follows him down the dark alleys of the Age of Reason.

21 June 2013

Book Review: How to Be Secular by Jacques Berlinerblau

Why is secularism a toxic word in the US, and can it be rehabilitated? Kenan Malik on a new book by American academic Jacques Berlinerblau, which promises to do just that

6 November 2012

Lessons unlearnt

With its cast of blood-thirsty mullahs, equivocating politicians, apologetic liberals and artists requiring police protection, Salman Rushdie’s memoir of the fatwa years couldn’t be more timely, says Kenan Malik

21 September 2012

Moral compass: a guide to religious freedom

Is it legitimate to ban the burqa? Should an employee be allowed to wear a cross at work? Should gay marriage be legalised? Find your way through the ethical thicket with Kenan Malik's step-by-step guide to the logic of tolerance

22 June 2012

The triumph of Rushdie’s censors

The response to the latest threats against Salman Rushdie shows that we have become dangerously accustomed to the erosion of free speech, says Kenan Malik

16 February 2012

The last Crusade

The claim that Christianity provides the bedrock of Western culture might serve the interests of extremists, but it is a betrayal of a far more complex history, argues Kenan Malik

25 October 2011

Norway’s tragedy calls for perspective

We must respond to extremism by protecting liberal values, argues Kenan Malik

22 September 2011

Test-tube truths

Should science guide our moral decisions? Kenan Malik puts Sam Harris's latest argument under the microscope

14 April 2011

Book review: Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and Europe by Christopher Caldwell

Caldwell’s argument is timely, powerful and wrong, says Kenan Malik

16 July 2009

Pimping Ida

The real missing link in the Ida story is that between modern science and PR, says Kenan Malik

22 May 2009

Shadow boxing

Cultural relativism and Western chauvinism share one basic principle, claims Kenan Malik: a loss of faith in universal values

12 May 2009

Mistaken identity

Obsessing about culture traps people in their own history, argues Kenan Malik

4 July 2008

Against Multiculturalism

‘Kenan Malik argues that slavish adherence to the multiculturalist approach denies us our freedoms and diversity.

31 May 2007

Materialism, Mechanism and the Human Mind

Are humans exceptional? That is have they developed beyond their evolved state? And what is the nature of human experience and behaviour asks Kenan Malik

31 May 2007