"The thing that separates human beings from other animals is our extraordinary capacity for complex, abstract thought."

"But our imperfect minds have also generated terrible mistakes and dangerous ideologies."

"Without these “intellectual virtues” even the cleverest end up merely playing theoretical games."

"1. Be sincere"

"“A wrangler is one who aims only at victory, being indifferent whether the arguments which he employs support his own contention or that of his opponent.”"

"Gautama distinguishes between three kinds of debate. In jalpa (wrangling) the aim is victory, while vitanda (cavilling) is concerned wholly with criticising the other side. But in good or honest discussion, vada, the aim is truth."

"One such philosopher, Bernard Williams, identified sincerity as one of the two primary “virtues of truth”, alongside accuracy."

"The most dangerous enemy of sincerity is not deliberate deception but the desire to be right overpowering the desire to get to the truth. Sincerity in thought therefore requires overcoming an ego that hates admitting being wrong."

"2. Be charitable"

"“People’s real reasons for reaching their practical conclusions are so often not the ones they give in their arguments.”"

"But just as we are not as smart as we like to think we are, other people are not usually as stupid as we take them to be."

"To avoid what David Hume called the “vulgar error” of “putting nothing but nonsense into the Mouth of the Adversary” we should employ the principle of charity."

"This requires us to consider the best, strongest version of an opponent’s argument, not only the worst."

"But there were more serious, less easily dismissed arguments, and those were the ones that most demanded a response."

"3. Be humble"

"“I’m not clever, I don’t find arguments easy to follow.”"

"Similarly, Warnock’s excellence was not as an original thinker."

"There are times when confidence and conviction are needed. But when we’re trying to think as clearly as possible, their absence is a virtue, not a vice."

"4. Keep it simple, but not simplistic"

"“It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.”"

"5. Watch your language"

"“What is necessary is to rectify names.”"

"“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.”"

"Philosophers have always been keen to define their terms and use language accurately."

"Getting words right sometimes requires changing them. “Gay marriage” used to be an oxymoron but most have come to agree that it is right that the meaning of “marriage” has evolved."

"6. Be eclectic"

"“I suspect I’ve always been an awful trespasser.”"

"Many – maybe most – important issues cannot be resolved with just one kind of expertise. To think about how to feed a nation you need to call on the knowledge of dieticians, ethicists, farmers, ecologists, cooks and economists."

"Breadth used to be a typical characteristic of philosophers."

"Breadth of thought, however, always requires the sacrifice of some depth."

"7. Think for yourself, not by yourself"

"“No culture has a monopoly on wisdom, no culture embodies all the great values, and therefore each culture has a great deal to learn from others, through dialogue.”"

"‘Have courage to make use of your own understanding’ is thus the motto of enlightenment.”"

"As Bhikhu Parekh argues, our willingness to draw on outside knowledge should extend to thinkers beyond our own cultures."

"Just as it is arrogant to think that we as individuals have nothing to learn from our peers, to assume any one tradition has a monopoly on making sense of the world is pure chauvinism."

"8. Seek clarity not certainty"

"“Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity.”"

"Philosophers – and I suspect all of us – tend towards one of two different objectives: clarity and certainty."

"Another reason to be suspicious of certainty is that it is seductive."

"Certainty is also the friend of dogmatism, arrogance and fundamentalism. Those who seek it should be careful what they wish for."

"9. Pay attention"

"“Attention is rewarded by a knowledge of reality.”"

"Paying close attention, rather than constructing arguments, lies at the heart of the best philosophising."

"It was also by paying close attention that Hume saw how Descartes was wrong to conclude that this thinker whose existence was certain was an indivisible, mental substance."

"Hume, like the Buddha, invited us to attend more carefully and observe that we are only ever aware of particular thoughts, feelings and sensations, not an “I” that stands behind them."

"Arguments do matter, but assessing the validity of our reasoning requires paying close attention to its progression more than it does knowledge of formal logic. Good thinking is just thinking with full attention."

"10. Follow the mean"

"“Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean.”"

"One principle that can be applied almost universally is Aristotle’s incredibly useful doctrine of the mean, a version of which is also taught by Kongzi. This says that for practically every virtue, there is not an opposite vice but an excess and a deficiency."

"Aristotle said: “It is the mark of the trained mind never to expect more precision in the treatment of any subject than the nature of that subject permits.”"

"That is why every intellectual virtue needs to come with a warning not to slavishly apply it: follow the argument wherever it leads but don’t follow it to absurdity"