The Moral Landscape

Description

An explosive book that calls for an end to religion's monopoly on morality, by the bestselling author of The Enf of Faith. Sam Harris's first book, The End of Faith, ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath, Harris discovered that most people - from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists - agree on one point- science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, our failure to address questions of meaning and morality through science has now become the primary justification for religious faith. In this highly controversial book, Sam Harris seeks to link morality to the rest of human knowledge. Defining morality in terms of human and animal well-being, Harris argues that science can do more than tell how we are; it can, in principle, tell us how we ought to be. In his view, moral relativism is simply false - and comes at an increasing cost to humanity. And the intrusions of religion into the sphere of human values can be finally repelled- for just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra, there can be no Christian or Muslim morality. Using his expertise in philosophy and neuroscience, along with his experience on the front lines of our 'culture wars', Harris delivers a game-changing book about the future of science and about the real basis of human cooperation.

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and the author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Times, Nature and in many other journals. He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. He is a co-founder of Project Reason. www.samharris.org

I was one of those who had unthinkingly bought into the hectoring myth that science can say nothing about morals. To my surprise, The Moral Landscape has changed all that for me... As for religion, and the preposterous idea that we need God to be good, nobody wields a sharper bayonet than Sam Harris -- Richard Dawkins Sam Harris breathes intellectual fire into an ancient debate. Reading this thrilling, audacious book, you feel the ground shifting beneath your feet. Reason has never had a more passionate advocate -- Ian McEwan A tremendously appealing vision, and one that no thinking person can afford to ignore -- Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology Readers are bound to come away with previously firm convictions about the world challenged, and a vital new awareness about the nature and value of science and reason in our lives -- Lawrence M. Krauss, Professor at Arizona State University This is an inspiring book -- John Lloyd * The Financial Times *