Author: Michael Shermer File Type: epub From bestselling author Michael Shermer, an investigation of the evolution of morality that is a paragon of popularized science and philosophy The Sun (Baltimore)A century and a half after Darwin first proposed an evolutionary ethics, science has begun to tackle the roots of morality. Just as evolutionary biologists study why we are hungry (to motivate us to eat) or why sex is enjoyable (to motivate us to procreate), they are now searching for the very nature of humanity.In The Science of Good and Evil, science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates to moral primates how and why morality motivates the human animal and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans. As he closes the divide between science and morality, Shermer draws on stories from the Yanamamo, infamously known as the fierce people of the tropical rain forest, to the Stanford studies on jailers behavior in prisons. The Science of Good and Evil is ultimately a profound look at the moral animal, belief, and the scientific pursuit of truth.From Publishers WeeklyDrawing on evolutionary psychology, Skeptic publisher and Scientific American contributor Shermer (Why People Believe Weird Things) argues that the sources of moral behavior can be traced scientifically to humanitys evolutionary origins. He contends that human morality evolved as first an individual and then a species-wide mechanism for survival. As society evolved, humans needed rules governing behavior-e.g., altruism, sympathy, reciprocity and community concern-in order to ensure survival. Shermer says that some form of the Golden Rule-Do unto others as you would have others do unto you-provides the foundation of morality in human societies. Out of this, he develops the principles of what he calls a provisional ethics that is neither absolute nor relative, that applies to most people most of the time, while allowing for tolerance and diversity. According to the ask-first principle, for instance, the performer of an act simply asks its intended receiver whether the act is right or wrong. Other principles include the happiness principle (always seek happiness with someone elses happiness in mind), the liberty principle (always seek liberty with someone elses liberty in mind) and the moderation principle (when innocent people die, extremism in the defense of anything is no virtue, and moderation in the protection of everything is no vice). Shermers provisional ethics might reflect the messy ways that human moral behavior developed, but his simplistic principles establish a utilitarian calculus that not everyone will find acceptable. 35 b&w illus. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. From BooklistThe source of morality is the topic under discussion in Shermers latest book to champion rationalism. Religion received a critique in How We Believe The Search for God in an Age of Science (1999) and does so again as Shermer offers propositions on the origin of our ordinary, innate sense of right and wrong. Disposing of religions rival, moral relativism, Shermer dedicates his effort to convincing readers that his thesis, labeled provisional morality, makes more sense. What that means is that ethical rules are accepted conditionally and are as falsifiable as any scientific theory. Shermer takes this precept into the realm of evolutionary psychology, drawing applied ethics from such drastically different sources as anthropological field studies in Amazonia and the TV show The Honeymooners. Contending that the source of ethics is solely evolutionary, Sherman conducts his argument in an assertive but not gratuitously aggressive fashion. This stance as well as his populistic bent should earn him the hearing that he clearly hopes believers in God will give him. Gilbert Taylor American Library Association. lt

Author: Martin Jay File Type: pdf Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, Max Horkheimer, Franz Neumann, Theodor Adorno, Leo Lowenthalthe impact of the Frankfurt School on the sociological, political, and cultural thought of the twentieth century has been profound. The Dialectical Imagination is a major history of this monumental cultural and intellectual enterprise during its early years in Germany and in the United States. Martin Jay has provided a substantial new preface for this edition, in which he reflects on the continuing relevance of the work of the Frankfurt School.From Publishers WeeklyBerkeley Professor Jays intellectual history covers the influential Frankfurt School, a group of German philosophers whose radical cultural criticism laid much of the groundwork for contemporary critical theory. 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThough finding some flaws in the text, LJs reviewer nonetheless dubbed this history of the Frankfort School and the Institute for Social Research a coherent, judicious discussion of this controversial band of German Theorists. Libraries lacking such a volume should purchase this lucid study 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.