* Archived Book Suggestions *

PeterDF · Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 11:30 am Post subject: A C Grayling and Secular Ethics

I have just finished reading "What is Good?" by the philosopher A C Grayling. This book explodes the myth that only religious people have access to higher moral sensibilities. Grayling, who is a humanist, eloquently explores the basis of ethics in a secular world in this book, which is accessible and easy to read.

There is a review of this book in this month's - "The Philosopher's Magazine" but it hasn't appeared on their web site yet, and I haven't found an online review so I've reviewed it myself.

Secular ethics is a subject that we don't often discuss in Booktalk, maybe this book will inspire us to explore it in more detail.

Anthony Grayling may not be known very well across "the pond". We first came across him at a recent literary festival near where we live. He writes a column in "The Times" in which he reviews books. He was a judge in this year's "Mann Booker Prize for Fiction" and he frequently appears on radio and television over here. He was a charming, witty, approachable and urbane speaker and very well informed about science and its recent impact on philosophical thought.

Here are a couple of quotes from the book:

Quote:
(some) "take it that the essence of religion is faith, and faith is a commitment made in direct opposition to reason, in the very teeth of the evidence. Such irrationalism has a purely emotional basis, which no doubt might prompt some to say that it therefore requires not argument but therapy."

Quote:
"One main opponent" (to enlightenment rationalism) " - as a matter of historical fact - the main opponent - is religion, which claims that revelation in any form from mystical experience to dictation of scriptures by a deity, conveys from outside the world of ordinary experience truths undiscoverable by human enquiry within it."

Quote:
"…if there is indeed conscious design in the universe, the most that its presence entails is a designer of designers; it tells us nothing about how many, who or what they were and certainly not that it or they fit the notions of a particular religious tradition. Moreover, since suffering and death, the preying of animal upon animal, natural disasters and plagues, deformities, pain and anguish seem to be part of the design, it is not as good as it might be, so if there were indeed a designer, it's clear it could have done with more practice…"

But this book is more than a polemic against religion - it is an exploration of humanistic thought and how it has developed in the three great enlightenments of Classical Greece, the renaissance and the more recent enlightenment in the 18th and 19th Century.

There are some fascinating revelations in this book. I found his description of stoicism as a powerful, intelligent, mature, thoughtful and insightful philosophy, informed as it was by the ancient wisdom of Socrates to be compelling. And I found the Christians' dismissal of it with one word - paganism - shocking.

Grayling's vocabulary is extensive and he uses it with considerable relish so you might want to keep a dictionary near when you read it. But don't be put off. I found this to be the most enjoyable book I have read for years.

Edited by: PeterDF at: 4/18/04 12:35 pm

tarav

Dissident, your suggestion comes from the heart and is worded nicely. However, I must say that your assumption that it is, "a book I think folks at Booktalk would love to devour" is surprising. As it says on our about page, "BookTalk is an online book discussion community dedicated to the advancement of critical thinking, reason, intelligence, freedom of inquiry, philosophy and the scientific method. We are a secular community, which means we support and promote a naturalistic worldview". You may find a few here who, "would find his approach intellectually satisfying and well worth the effort to debate and learn from". However, I don't think such a book would end up on a poll for a quarterly reading. Our quarterly readings should, in my opinion, reflect the mission of booktalk. We aren't about religion and god, we are about science and freethought.

Chris OConnor · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:47 pm Post subject: Re: Some more suggestions

Tara, you're exactly right. And now that we've revisited the BookTalk mission, lets resume using this thread strictly for book suggestions.

Chris

Dissident Heart · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 2:30 pm Post subject: The Schopenhauer Cure

The Schopenhauer Cure by Irvin D. Yalom.

The Schopenhauer Cure is a fascinating journey through the worlds of philosophy and psychotherapy within a fictional narrative that explores questions of death and dying, the meaning of life, personal relationships, vocational calling and professional ethics, addiction and recovery, and the power of ideas to shape our habits, attitudes and view of the world.

One of the 19th Centuries most brilliant atheists, Arthur Schopenhauer, serves as the gadfly/foil challenging a psychotherapy group to come to terms with the impending death of their beloved therapist and guide.

Irvin Yalom is a leading figure in the field of existentialist psychology and group therapy and a master story teller. I read this book this summer and couldn't put it down. All perspectives all challenged, assumptions exposed and a geniune passion for life develops as radical pessimism and outright nihilism are confronted and responded to.

Chris OConnor

Dissident

You've just suggested a novel and we don't read fiction for our quarterly readings. Please refer to our About page. You're welcome to post fiction suggestions in this forum, just not in this thread. Thank you.

Copied and pasted from the site you provided

Quote:
This novel knits together fact and fiction and contains an accurate portrayal of group therapy in action as well as a presentation of the life and influence of Arthur Schopenhauer, Philip's personal guru and professional inspiration.

Chris

Dissident Heart

Duly noted

MadArchitect

Inventing the People, by Edmund S. Morgan

By the time we get around to choosing the next selection, I'll probably be almost done with this book, but I thought I'd draw it to everyone else's attention. Morgan explores the development of popular government in England and America out of the foundation of constitutional monarchy. Having read the first chapter, I can vouch for the book's potential as a catalyst for ideas and discussion. Morgan is dealing with the transition from one way of thinking to another, and with the changes such transitions impose on our mode of living. The result is no less than our current way of life. Interesting stuff, to say the least, and well worth debating, I think.

Chris OConnor · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject: Book Suggestions

Mad

Looks like a quality read. And the author has written a boatload of other books that would make for excellent discussions.

Chris

MadArchitect · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject: Re: In Gods We Trust

I'm enjoying it, and it's making for an interesting companion to "The Federalist Papers". Morgan has published as recently as March of this year, so there's the possibility of getting him in on a discussion.

Wow, that would be cool if a book I nominated got picked.

MadArchitect · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 3:23 pm Post subject: Re: Some more suggestions

A highly encouraging review in the New York Times pointed me to this book:

The Fate of Africa, by Martin Meredith

Here's a brief blurb:
The value of Meredith's towering history of modern Africa rests not so much in its incisive analysis, or its original insights; it is the sheer readability of the project, combined with a notable lack of pedantry, that makes it one of the decade's most important works on Africa. Spanning the entire continent, and covering the major upheavals more or less chronologically—from the promising era of independence to the most recent spate of infamies (Rwanda, Darfur, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Sierra Leone)—Meredith (In the Name of Apartheid) brings us on a journey that is as illuminating as it is grueling.

Worth consideration, I'd say.

tarav · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:25 am Post subject: Re: Some more suggestions

Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Sean B. Carroll

From Publishers Weekly
Cobb County textbook stickers aside, evolutionary natural selection offers a pretty straightforward explanation for the forward march of species through history; a mutation that better equips a given organism to survive is passed along to its heirs, becoming more common as successive generations flourish. The actual process by which mutations happen, however, was far more mysterious until scientists turned to the study of evolutionary development (known by the somewhat unfortunate moniker "Evo Devo"). One such scientist is Carroll, a genetics professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who guides us along the broad contours of development ("the process through which a single-celled egg gives rise to a complex, multibillion-celled animal") and the ways in which its study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms of evolution. He explains in concrete terms how small changes in a species's genetic code of a given species can lead to dramatic differences in physiology is the "missing piece" of evolutionary theory, Carroll argues. The book is as much a salvo in the continuing battles between creationists and evolutionists as it is a popularization of science, and Carroll combines clear writing with the deep knowledge gained from a lifetime of genetics research, first laying out the principles of evolutionary development and then showing us how they can explain both the progression of species in the fossil record and outliers like a six-fingered baseball pitcher.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Evo Devo is short for evolutionary developmental biology, a new science that explores the biological processes that give rise to both the shared traits and the wild diversity of animal anatomies. Carroll is at the vanguard of this promising field, and he is also a lucent and lively popular science writer deeply inspired by the order, ingenuity, and beauty of the molecular choreography he brings to light. Evo Devo has not only proven that human beings have a surprising number of genes in common with other animals, including the humble fruit fly, it has also revealed the startling fact that every animal species on earth is derived from the same small set of "tool-kit genes." In explicating these unexpected discoveries, Carroll describes in stunning detail the geography of a growing embryo, how genes mark out a diagram of the body to come, and how exactly, thanks to "genetic switches," the "hotspots of evolution," one group of genes can produce such variations on a theme as butterflies, birds, leopards, and whales. Carroll's highly detailed and well-illustrated technical discussions are enriched by his appreciation for the philosophical, aesthetic, and ethical implications of the biological wonders he decodes, adding up to a vital and enjoyable introduction to a field with profound implications.

Chris OConnor · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 4:13 pm Post subject: Re: The First Chimpanzee

I hope so. It sounds awesome.

pctacitus · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:08 pm Post subject: Imperial Grunts

Imperial Grunts : The American Military on the Ground by Robert D. Kaplan

www.amazon.com/exec/obido...7RAL16H02H

I had posted about this book but the hack in May took that post away. Robert Kaplan has had an interesting career. He started in the 70s as a foreign freelance correspondent, and spent the 80s in places like Eritrea, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The 90s were spent discussing the problems of the post-cold war world and studying America. After September 11 2001, he quickly turned out a work on leadership and has spent the last several years with the US military, embedded with Marines in Fallujah, Special Forces in the Philippines, etc. The result is this book.

Doug Larson: “The cat could very well be man's best friend but would never stoop to admitting it."

Mr. Pessimistic · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:11 pm Post subject: Re: Imperial Grunts

I just read his book: The Coming Anarchy.

It was interesting...made some good points.

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

pctacitus · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Imperial Grunts

I enjoyed The Coming Anarchy several years ago. I read it all within two days.

Doug Larson: “The cat could very well be man's best friend but would never stoop to admitting it."


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