Stephen Fry - The Importance of Philosophy and Unbelief

While I'm somewhat suspicious of actors--always pretending to be someone else :), I do tend to admire the good ones for their ability to convey and explore the spectrum of human possibilities. Still, they're not usually the first group to whom I'd turn for intellectual stimulation, so it's especially refreshing when one of them is not only eloquent and worldly but sophisticated, subtle, perceptive and genuinely interesting.

In this short interview, Stephen Fry exalts the virtues of philosophy (the real kind, the one that requires systematic thought), and makes the case that the assumption of the absence of an afterlife becomes an imperative to lead a fuller, better and more interesting life. The ideas are probably already familiar to you, dear readers, but it's always nice to hear them expressed with a British accent :)

And as someone who loves books, it was only fitting for Stephen to make a wonderful documentary about Gutenberg and his revolutionary printing press.

Oh, and you don't want to miss him in this awesome debate (alongside Christopher Hitchens) about whether the Catholic Church is a force for good.

Spoiler alert: it's not :)
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