Welcome to Jack Grassby's Website

This web site gives a preview of all of Jack Grassby's books

The Unfinished Revolution
South Tyneside 1969-1976

The period was one of world-wide political action - involving workers, students, and community groups. Around 1969-1976 South Tyneside, and in particular South Shields, was the unlikely centre for some of these events.

From 1970 to 1975 a Labour Government was working with activites up and down the country. Jack Grassby's book covers this period and should be widely read to help us with the future.
Rt. Hon. Tony Benn MP

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Revolution in the 21st Century

This book seeks to provide access to current concepts in social and political philosophy at a popular level and to place ideas of political action in that context.

Jack Grassby has a wonderful sense of radical history, but never stops thinking about the future. His writings are now a feature of the debate.
Rt. Hon. David Miliband M.P.

It is a thoroughly enjoyable book aimed at students of politics and other potential activists. It is not the first such book, but it is one of the best.
David Renton
University of Sunderland, in The Lecturer.

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Postmodern Humanism

CAN WE BELIEVE ANYTHING? Expressions of relativism, with their dismissal of gods, and the transcendent, have dumped us in an intellectual and moral vacuum. We no longer know who we are or what to believe - if, indeed, we can believe anything. This book considers, in a systematic way, the construction of a Humanist belief system for the 21st century from the perspective of what has become known as postmodernism.

POSTMODERN HUMANISM - a rational relativist perspective

A paper delivered at the Newcastle Philosophy Society on the 20th October 2007.

Right Click Here to download Document

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How Can We Believe Anything?

The question of what we believe, and how we act on ourbelief, concerns us all. On the one hand, our religious and political terrorists assert their beliefs with indiscriminate violence. On the other hand, our postmodern philosophers tell us we cannot believe anything. Meanwhile, our neuroscientists and geneticists question the very notion of what it is to be human. Many of us no longer know who we are or what to believe – if, indeed, we can believe anything.

The thesis advanced here is that we can recognise the philosophical basis of a universal system of belief which acknowledges our evolved anthropocentric subjectivism. The possible structure of such a system is described and its potential contents examined.

Jack Grassby’s book offers an approachable account of how a humanist thinks about the big questions. Rather than indulge in polemics, Jack takes time and trouble to explain how we can account for a range of major issues. This makes the book valuable for the general reader and provides a good starting point for all those interested in understanding the world around them.
David Large
Former Chair, Newcastle Philosophy Society

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