Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
Ruling Passions
Simon Blackburn · 1998
80/100
👍 Worth It
Blackburn writes analytic philosophy with genuine literary grace, and the quasi-realist project here — grounding ethics in human passions while preserving its authority — is original and rigorously developed. The Times Literary Supplement and multiple philosophy journals recognized it as a significant contribution, and that verdict holds. Readers need some background in analytic philosophy to follow the argument fully, and those seeking a theistic grounding for morality will find no comfort here.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety72
substance88
craft85
originality84
accuracy85
hype78
age-fit75
human-eye82
Penny’s verdict80
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