Berman, Morris (10 August 2023). "DARK AGES AMERICA: Our Common Humanity". " Not sure I'm in his (Gray's) league, but thanks for the compliment. I have admired his work for a long time. Very sober analyst." Gray, John (1998). False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. London: Granta Books. ISBN 978-1-86207-023-3.

and concludes that "Rigour in argument is not among Mill's accomplishments." 2 The Revisionist View of Mill as Furthermore, he argues that this belief in progress, commonly imagined to be secular and liberal, is in fact derived from an erroneous Christian notion of humans as morally autonomous beings categorically different from other animals. This belief, and the corresponding idea that history makes sense, or is progressing towards something, is in Gray's view merely a Christian prejudice. [11]Gray, John (1993). Post-Liberalism: Studies in Political Thought. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-08873-2.

Gray, John (2021). Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-198842-9. Gray, John (2003). Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern. New York: The New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-805-4. John Gray, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, (Granta Books 2002), p. 12. ISBN 1-86207-512-3 More generally, agonistic liberalism could be used to describe any kind of liberalism that claims its own value commitments do not form a complete vision of politics and society, and that one instead needs to look for what Berlin calls an "uneasy equilibrium" between competing values. In Gray's view, many contemporary liberal theorists would fall into this category, for instance John Rawls and Karl Popper. [ citation needed] Reception [ edit ] Acclaim [ edit ]He formerly held posts as lecturer in political theory at the University of Essex, fellow and tutor in politics at Jesus College, Oxford, and lecturer and then professor of politics at the University of Oxford. He has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University (1985–86) and Stranahan Fellow at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University (1990–1994), and has also held visiting professorships at Tulane University's Murphy Institute (1991) and Yale University (1994). He was Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science until his retirement from academic life in early 2008. Gray, John (1998). Liberalism (2nded.). Milton Keynes: Open University Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-2801-8. Greece and the Meaning of Folly: [29] Taking the myth of the Trojan Horse as his starting point, he explores what he sees as the modern-day folly unfolding in Europe. George Crowder (2006). "Gray and the Politics of Pluralism". Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. 9 (2): 171–188. doi: 10.1080/13698230600655008. S2CID 144224371.

On liberalism, Gray identified the common strands in liberal thought as being individualist, egalitarian, meliorist, and universalist. The individualist element avers the ethical primacy of the human being against the pressures of social collectivism, the egalitarian element assigns the same moral worth and status to all individuals, the meliorist element asserts that successive generations can improve their sociopolitical arrangements, and the universalist element affirms the moral unity of the human species and marginalises local cultural differences. [10] His 2002 book Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals has received particular praise. J. G. Ballard wrote that the book "challenges most of our assumptions about what it means to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions" and described it "a powerful and brilliant book", "an essential guide to the new millennium" and "the most exhilarating book I have read since Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene." [24] Will Self called the book "a contemporary work of philosophy devoid of jargon, wholly accessible, and profoundly relevant to the rapidly evolving world we live in" and wrote "I read it once, I read it twice and took notes. I arranged to meet its author so I could publicise the book – I thought it that good." [15] [24] Wheen, Francis (2004). How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World. London: HarperCollinsFourth Estate. p.187. ISBN 0-00-714097-5. Going nowhere: Laurie Taylor interviews John Gray". Newhumanist.org.uk. 31 May 2007 . Retrieved 9 August 2013.Gray's political thought is noted for its mobility across the political spectrum over the years. As a student, Gray was on the left and continued to vote Labour into the mid-1970s. By 1976 he had shifted towards a right-liberal New Right position, on the basis that the world was changing irrevocably through technological inventions, realigned financial markets and new economic power blocs and that the left failed to comprehend the magnitude and nature of this change. [8] In the 1990s Gray became an advocate for environmentalism and New Labour. Gray considers the conventional (left-wing/right-wing) political spectrum of conservatism and social democracy as no longer viable. [9] Founded in 1919 after the First World War, the uniquely named Cray Valley Paper Mills are an Isthmian League South East Division club who play at the Artic Stadium on Badgers Sports Ground. Horton, John and Glen Newey, eds. The Political Theory of John Gray. London: Routledge, 2007. ISBN 0-415-36647-X.

it is also contradicted by much of what Mill says in On Liberty. Mill as a Transitional Thinker: Between the Objectivist

A short stay of execution

John Nicholas Gray (born 17 April 1948) is an English political philosopher and author with interests in analytic philosophy, the history of ideas, [1] and philosophical pessimism. [2] He retired in 2008 as School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Gray contributes regularly to The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and the New Statesman, where he is the lead book reviewer. He is an atheist. [3] BBC Radio 4 – A Point of View, John Gray: The revolution of capitalism". Bbc.co.uk. 4 September 2011 . Retrieved 9 August 2013. They almost give a glimmer of life to these hollow structures which bore witness to 200 years of life and work in Aberdeen. Broadford Works song