The book O Homem Razoável e Outros Ensaios (The Reasonable Man and Other Essays) by Joaquina Pires-O’Brien dwells with some uplifting themes, such as the use of the concepts of the ‘reasonable man’ in the laws of England and Wales and that of Life Long Learning, or LLL, as well as with some human foibles such as man’s attachment to myths and conspiracy theories. The present collection of essays also cover the lives of thinkers who contributed to improve people’s lives, such as Friedrich Hayek, Elias Canetti, Stefan Zweig and George Orwell, and, explains some of thorny problems of our times such as the contempt for high culture and to science exhibited by the followers of the doctrine of post-modernism. It also deals with the subject of religion, showing the frailty of the faith in revelation and pointing out an important unintended consequence of religion, which is to validate violence. Uplifting or not, today’s problems need to be discussed on the public sphere. This book is a contribution towards that.
O livro O Homem Razoável de Joaquina Pires-O’Brien consiste de 23 ensaios sobre os mais variados temas como aspectos da lei inglesa, a história do passaporte e das religiões, o fenômeno das massas e o mito da voz do povo, as duas culturas, o pós-modernismo e o 9/11. Três ensaios cobrem a religião e suas revelações; dois falam da educação; um relembra o malfadado Projeto Floram de reflorestamento, do final da década de 1980 no Brasil, derrubado pela pressão contrária de massas mal informadas. O restante captura a vida de pensadores que contribuíram para melhorar a vida das pessoas, como Friedrich Hayek, Elias Canetti, Stefan Zweig e George Orwell. No seu conjunto, os ensaios são uma síntese crítica da Civilização Ocidental.