Bad Thoughts:Jamie Whyte

About the Author
Jamie Whyte originates from New Zealand and studied an M.Phil at Darwin College in 1986-1987; he is a former lecturer on Philosophy at Cambridge University. He is married with one daughter and lives in North London. He now writes regular articles for The Times and for numerous journals. He sees this book as a personal ‘confession’.

Jamie Whyte describes himself as "Outraged of Highbury" – someone who endlessly sends furious letters to newspapers complaining about errors in reasoning, sloppy thinking, logical errors, fallacies and muddles. He apparently does the same at parties – and even on trains.

A Google search of the Author revealed numerous articles written by him. This book was given a rave review by the South West London Humanist Group, which also listed Richard Dawkins as a favourite writer. Jamie Whyte also has a fan club following amongst the ‘New Age spiritual communities. His strong anti-Christian [against the God of Jesus that is] stance is too obvious in Bad Thoughts and apparently in many other of his writings.

The Review
The Author claims to be seriously bothered by errors of reasoning and logical error prevalent in the public and private domain of society. He is particularly concerned how these flaws in thinking and reasoning are used to gain political support, money, power and influence from an unsuspecting public. It is asserted that most people do not notice this problem of defective thinking in their own daily lives and in the various media they are exposed to. It is suggested we don’t recognise the problem because most of us are not taught how reasoning can go wrong; schools and universities apparently do little to address this serious issue.

The book is offered as a form of troubleshooting guide to logic and reasoning. It is aimed at everyday users/consumers of reasoning, and covers such errors as are most commonly encountered. Each of the twelve chapters is devoted to one such flaw. The Author claims to use real examples drawn from politics, business, theology, and public/private debate to explain and highlight such fallacies. The twelve fallacies covered are headed as:
Authority; Prejudice in Fancy Dress; Shutup!; Empty Words; Motives; The Right to your Opinion; Inconsistency; Equivocation; Begging the Question; Coincidence; Shocking Statistics; Morality Fever.

The book, provoked a spirited response from the Group, with a range of views from members. The disjointed and apparent lack of any clear theme of logic in the presentation was, ironically, commented on! Some found it heavy going although this was not due to its depth of arguments. It was described by one member as 'curiously uninspired' and its arguments became predictable as all topics were dealt with in the same way some, due to this, did not manage to finish it; others were somewhat angered by his superficial cynicism and ‘straw man’ arguments against the value and importance of belief and faith in the human psyche. It was commonly felt that it did not deliver what it had promised. However, his witty and engaging writing style was appealing, and many points made were appreciated, such as the section on jargon where common sense is often disguised as technical competence and the dishonest way some, especially poiticians carry on their arguments. If you don't mind putting up with Whyte's personal religious opinions being presented as gospel (pun intended), this book is a good starting point, for those who may want to progress to something a bit more substantial.

The goup then went on to consider the next read, CJ Sansom; Dr Fire, a follow on from a previous read , J.A. Thomson; Caught in the Rib potentially a follow on from 'Bad Thoughts' cutting across conventionalism, wisdom to take to the right decisions, taking time out. Although these two books were suggested for the groups interest these were not tabled as the next read.

Tabled were;

C S Lewis, Screwtape Letters

Alfred Lansing, The Endurance (Shackleton's voyage)

Andrew Simms, Tescopoly

Carol Drinkwater, The Olive Route (solo adventure)

Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Described as a benign autocratic decision, the group 'selected' CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters.

Many thanks to Mike for hosting this meeting.

In the meantime we will be having our Christmas do!