What does it mean to be both a professor of philosophy and a public intellectual in an age when every CEO is hailed as an intellectual, every adman a visionary? When the opinions of TV pundits and 'fast thinkers' seem to carry the day? When academics bemoan the loss of critical engagement and dialogue?

The essays and book reviews collected in Practical Judgments represent popular Toronto philosopher and cultural theorist Mark Kingwell's negotiation of the space where academe collides with the world outside the ivory tower. Kingwell considers cricket and consciousness, dandies and television, the ethics of books and lifestyles, and the possibility of critical theory. He looks to Nietzsche, Husserl, and Adorno for inspiration, but also to Cary Grant, Bruce Mau, and Jorge Luis Borges.

Throughout, Kingwell shows a deep respect for the philosophical enterprise in its peculiar current conditions and a commitment to think sharply and with self-awareness about these conditions. Intended as both a philosophical examination of the commonplace virtues of wonder, civility, and common sense, and a realistic illustration of how Kingwell sees them working, Practical Judgments calls attention to the process of thinking and, by example, encourages the reader to engage in similar philosophizing. The book itself is structured to show the arc of thought, from the more abstract, scholarly examinations of people and ideas, to critical reflections on the impetus for philosophy and its possibilities as a force for change in the world around us.

Practical Judgments reveals the sources and developments of Kingwell's thought and examines the nature and limits of intellectual engagement. It displays Kingwell's political commitment to a hermeneutic form of social democracy by revealing a careful attention to the texture of daily cultural affairs. Arguing for a form of critical engagement without which political action is impossible, Kingwell shows that attention to everyday life is worthwhile both in itself and as part of a larger philosophical endeavour.

Mark Kingwell is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of eleven books of political and cultural theory, including most recently, Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (2008) and Opening Gambits: Essays on Art and Philosophy (2008). He is the recipient of the Spitz Prize in political theory, National Magazine Awards for both essays and columns, and in 2000 was awarded an honorary DFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for contributions to theory and criticism.

Patrick Turmel is an assistant professor of philosophy at Université Laval. His main research interests are in moral and political philosophy. He has published articles in ethics and on issues pertaining to cities and justice. He is also co-editor of Penser les institutions (Presses de l’Université Laval).

Mark Kingwell's profile page

'Kingwell's diverse essays together constitute a convincing case that "critical immersion in the world" has the potential to improve the quality of the practical judgments we are called upon to make daily. The possibility of improving the quality of such judgments in turn sustains cautious hope for a gradual improvement of the workaday world we share… The arguments are sound and innovative and engaging.'

Montreal Gazette

'Kingwell brings together an enjoyably diverse range of meditations, investigations and something he calls "interventions" into the corners of mass culture… When we civilians are trying to think through the mudslide of text, image and object our world has become, books like this one should serve to remind us that it's okay to seek help. Also, that there's a sort of civic nobility in the softly iambic "I disagree."'

Globe and Mail

'Kingwell demonstrates the importance of philosophy to contemporary problems and issues… [He is] remarkably effective at demonstrating the value of critical and creative thinking in an increasingly complex world.'

Ottawa Life