I can trace the moment when I decided to commit myself to the search for truth. I was seven years old and had just realized that other children in my class were generally baptised and thus somehow branded and defined by belonging to a particular creed or church.

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and philosopher of science who writes books that aim to challenge established opinion and provoke a strong response. There is no problem with that in principle, but it becomes disturbing when he overstates his case, creating a caricature of reality.

I have followed Daniel Dennett’s work with considerable interest over the past decades, not just because he is one of the few contemporary Anglo-Saxon philosophers whose work is relevant to continental philosophy, but because his words are often provocative enough to trigger new insights into human existence.

It seems we all agree that trauma is an essential, inevitable and necessary part of life. But we still have to examine what the purpose of this experience might be and whether it makes a difference if the trauma is minor or major. I do not think that all such experiences can be handled or understood in the same way.