Baggini was born in 1968 in Folkestone, the child of an Italian immigrant father and English mother.^[3] He grew up in Kent and was educated at the Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone, from 1980 until 1987.^[4] He later attended Reading University and gained a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1990.^[5]

In 1996 he was awarded a PhD from University College London for a thesis on the philosophy of personal identity.^[6][7]

Baggini is an honorary graduate and honorary research fellow of the University of Kent's department of philosophy.^[8]

In 1997 Baggini co-founded The Philosophers' Magazine with Jeremy Stangroom. In 1999 he was a founder of the Humanist Philosophers' Group, then part of the British Humanists Association. He is also a patron of Humanists UK.^[9]

In 2009 Baggini was philosopher-in-residence at Wellington College, a public school in Berkshire.^[10] In 2012 he was also commissioned by the National Trust to be the philosopher-in-residence for the White Cliffs of Dover where he was required to reflect on the chalk cliffs and their significance to the national identity.^[3]

Baggini is a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper,^[11] Prospect magazine,^[12] Financial Times and a columnist and book reviewer for The Wall Street Journal.^[13] He has also written for New Humanist magazine, The Week, New Statesman, New York Times and Literary Review.^[13]

In addition to writing many books about the history and common themes of philosophy, he has also written more generally about the philosophy of food^[4] and the nature of 'Englishness'.^[14] He speaks regularly at conferences and schools and has frequently spoken out about living without religion, against the teaching in schools of creationism, a loss of reason, which^{[clarification needed]} he asserts is "an enemy of mystery and ambiguity,"^{[15] [verification needed]} and the benefits of secular education.^[9]

His 2018 book, How The World Thinks: A Global History Of Philosophy received a warm critical reception, with The Scotsman describing it as "ingenious and open-hearted"^[16] and the Financial Times a "bold, fascinating book".^[17]

In 2019 Baggini was named academic director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.^[8]

He is a member of the British trade union the Society of Authors and also appears in two novels by Alexander McCall Smith in The Sunday Philosophy Club Series.^[4]

• How to Think Like a Philosopher - Granta. Reviewed in Times Literary Supplement, Issue No. 6261, March 31, 2023
• How The World Thinks: A Global History Of Philosophy - Granta, 2018 ISBN 978-1783782284
• A Short History of Truth - Quercus, 2017 ISBN 978-1-78648-888-6
• The Edge of Reason: A Rational Skeptic in an Irrational World - Yale University Press, 2016 ISBN 978-0-30020-823-8
• Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will - Granta Books, 2015
• Without God, is Everything Permitted? The 20 Big Questions in Ethics - Quercus,2014
• The Ego Trick: What Does It Mean To Be You? - Granta Books, 2011
• Really Really Big Questions about Faith - Kingfisher (children's book), 2011 ISBN 9780753431511
• Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover? - Granta, 2009
• The Duck That Won the Lottery: And 99 Other Bad Arguments (published in paperback in UK as Do They Think You're Stupid?) - Granta, 2008 ISBN 978-1-84708-083-7
• Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protests - Profile Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84668-057-1
• Welcome to Everytown: a journey into the English mind - Granta, 2007.
• The Ethics Toolkit: A Compendium of Ethical Concepts and Methods, Blackwell, 2007 (co-written with Peter S. Fosl) ISBN 978-1-4051-3231-2
• Do You Think What You Think You Think? - Granta, 2006 (co-written with Stangroom, J.)
• The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments - Granta, 2005.
• What’s It All about? Philosophy and the meaning of life - Granta, 2004.
• Making Sense: Philosophy Behind the Headlines - Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Atheism: A Very Short Introduction - Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-280424-2
• Philosophy: Key Themes - Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
• The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods - Blackwell, 2002 (co-written with Peter S. Fosl) ISBN 978-1-4051-9018-3
• Great Thinkers A-Z - Continuum, 2004 (co-written with Stangroom, J. (eds.))
• What Philosophers Think - Continuum, 2003 (co-written with Stangroom, J. (eds.))
• New British Philosophy: The interviews - Routledge, 2002 (co-written with L.Alpeart (eds.)).

• Official website
• Baggini on the BBC History Extra podcast
• Julian Baggini at IMDb