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religion

Book of the Month: The Moral Landscape

I have been reading this off and on for about a year and just finally struggled through the last of it. I enjoyed Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris much more. It was shorter and for a broader audience and The Moral Landscape seemed like it was for a philosophy major. At least it will look like I am smart when I put it on my "read" bookshelf.

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.
— http://www.amazon.com/The-Moral-Landscape-Science-Determine/dp/143917122X