As a teenager, I increasingly had questions about religion to which I found no good answers.

Society needs both justice and compassion, a head and a heart, if it is to be civilised.

It may not have the virtuous ring of the golden rule, but the maxim "never say never" is one of the most important in ethics.

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

Prayer provides an opportunity to remind oneself of how one should be living, our responsibilities to others, our own failings, and our relative good fortune, should we have it. This is, I think, a pretty worthwhile practice and it is not something you can only do if you believe you are talking to an unseen creator.

It is often said that having gone through any kind of suffering tends to makes you appreciate life more and live more in the present. I'm not sure how universal or long-lasting these effects really are.

Since Plato, we have been considering the nature of knowledge, the meaning of meaning and the status of the physical world.