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The Moral Arc Paperback – January 26, 2016
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Bestselling author Michael Shermer's exploration of science and morality that demonstrates how the scientific way of thinking has made people, and society as a whole, more moral
From Galileo and Newton to Thomas Hobbes and Martin Luther King, Jr., thinkers throughout history have consciously employed scientific techniques to better understand the non-physical world. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the non-scientific disciplines of politics, economics, and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts of dissected bodies in old medical texts, physicians opened bodies themselves to see what was there; instead of divining truth through the authority of an ancient holy book or philosophical treatise, people began to explore the book of nature for themselves through travel and exploration; instead of the supernatural belief in the divine right of kings, people employed a natural belief in the right of democracy.
In The Moral Arc, Shermer will explain how abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, skepticism--scientific ways of thinking--have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and, indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world.
- Print length560 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 26, 2016
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.5 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-109781250081322
- ISBN-13978-1250081322
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“This is one of the best recent books that I have read, and it's the one that I expect to re-read most often. It's an honest, clear account of morality and justice that makes those theoretical concepts come alive as ubiquitous real-life choices. In the process of reading it, you'll learn about wrenching moral dilemmas such as paying ransoms to Somali pirates, maintaining nuclear weapons as deterrents, good people becoming Nazis, and the immorality of the Bible and of the Ten Commandments.” ―Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of the best-selling books Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and The World until Yesterday
“I suspect that people will be arguing with Michael Shermer's premise before they read a page: ‘The moral arc is bending toward truth, justice, and freedom? Is he hallucinating? Just look at...' In these cynical times, where right and left foresee disaster and despair (albeit for different reasons), Shermer's monumental opus, spanning centuries, nations, and cultures, is bound to provoke debate and open minds. Exactly what an important work of skepticism, science, and reason should do.” ―Carol Tavris, Ph.D., social psychologist and author of The Mismeasure of Woman and coauthor of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
“A thrilling and fascinating book, which could change your view of human history and human destiny. If you wanted a sequel to The Better Angels of Our Nature, one which explored all of our spheres of moral progress, not just the decline of violence, this is it.” ―Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of The Blank Slate and The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
“It is difficult to imagine how the arc of morality can bend toward justice without rational examination of the consequences of one's actions. As Michael Shermer passionately describes in this ambitious, thoroughly researched, yet remarkably accessible work of scholarship, the fabric of modern morality derives not from religion, but in large part from secular notions of rational empiricism. This message needs to be shared more broadly for the good our society, and hopefully this book will do just that.” ―Lawrence M. Krauss, Foundation Professor and Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, and bestselling author of A Universe from Nothing and The Physics of Star Trek
“Michael Shermer makes the astonishing claim that science, precisely because of its rational, dispassionate, and enlightened attitude towards revealing the truth, has helped to lay the moral groundwork for modern society, pointing the way to a more just and moral world. Instead of being a passive observer to the dance of history and the evolution of ethics, Shermer makes the outrageous claim that science has in fact been one of the principle actors. Bravo, I say.” ―Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author of the best seller The Future of the Mind, and Physics of the Future
“Michael Shermer argues that science, reason, and critical thinking come first; these are the ideas that produce stable, peaceful democracies. He documents and assesses society's successes and failures through the troubled history of humankind--and he's relentless. He connects the arc of the rise of reason and science with a country's economic success, and the overall worldwide decline in violence and suppression of our fellow humans, especially women. If you are religious, have a look. Shermer takes your faith to task and celebrates science as a path to the better moral future that citizens everywhere long for.” ―Bill Nye, The Science Guy, CEO, The Planetary Society
“The Moral Arc displays the impressive depth of Michael Shermer's scholarship, wisdom and empathetic humanity, and it climaxes in a visionary flight of futuristic optimism. A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night.” ―Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 1250081327
- Publisher : Griffin; Reprint edition (January 26, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 560 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781250081322
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250081322
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.5 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #480,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,523 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #1,802 in Medical General Psychology
- #12,405 in Psychology & Counseling
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon Podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, and Heavens on Earth. His new book is Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist.
(Photo by Jordi Play)
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I am a Christian who makes an effort to read things I know going in that I probably will not agree with. The author's attempt in assessing Christianity is mostly confined to the weirdness found in Leviticus and Exodus, oddities that even devout Bible scholars have trouble with. The Bible covers thousands of years and includes horrendous wars and a great deal of despicable behavior. To the author, that means the Christian God endorses all these things! Of course, that is not true, the Christian God is a source for good.
A common tactic of the liberal left is taking present day thinking and projecting it backward in time. Just one example of this is regarding slavery. Your best source for the slavery issue is Thomas Sowell. Because slavery is mentioned in the Bible, that means God endorses it according to Shermer. The fact is that all races have been enslaved and have enslaved others.The word comes about as a derivation of Slav, because so many white Eastern Europeans were enslaved by blacks from Northern Africa (you won't find that fact in any college campus
textbooks!) When most of the world in those times had to question where their next meal was coming from, serious steps were taken. If a ruler of a country could enslave the citizens of a neighboring country, he did so, for the benefit of himself and his citizenry. Slavery was unquestioned throughout the world. But the author nonsensically puts the blame for slavery on religion. But why does science go blameless? Did Plato or Newton or Einstein lead the charge on abolishing slavery? No, the leaders were Christians- Wilberforce, Douglas, abolitionists in the US and Martin Luther King.
Most topics in the book get similar treatment. While it is science supposedly at the forefront, no mention is made of actual scientists being leaders on gay marriage, or gender confusion or the "mistreatment" by meat processors or any social issues.
There are other absurdities in the book such as the idea that Hitler was a German Christian! For all the genocide of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. there is no emphasis in the book of their atheism.
The final chapter is a good one that covers justice and forgiveness. It is a bit of a surprise that topic would be covered here since Christianity is the master when it comes to teaching forgiveness. Your best source of learning here would be Philip Yancey's What's So Amazing About
Grace. A better book than this one is An Atheist Defends Religion by Bruce Sheiman. Also, to learn about a one-time leader of atheists who "saw the light" read There Is A God by Antony Flew.
Shermer's point is this: "I argue that most of the moral development of the past several centuries has been the result of secular not religious forces, and that the most important of these that emerged from the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment are science and reason... Further, I demonstrate that the arc of the moral universe bends not merely toward justice, but also toward truth and freedom, and that these positive outcomes have largely been the product of societies moving toward more secular forms of governance and politics, law and jurisprudence, moral reasoning and ethical analysis."
Here, here! However, there are times when Shermer's modernity bias comes through. He writes, "For tens of millennia moral regress best described our species..." But laws that sought greater justice go all the way back to Sumer's Ur-nammu ca. 2150 BC, and likely to innovation of the city ca. 3500 BC when living in numbers contained by close quarters demanded it. Morality evolved. It seems to have been accelerated by Enlightenment, not born there. Shermer says, "It is the individual who is the primary moral agent—not the group, tribe, race, gender, state, nation, empire, society, or any other collective—because it is the individual who survives and flourishes, or who suffers and dies...Historically, immoral abuses have been most rampant, and body counts have run the highest, when the individual is sacrificed for the good of the group." The Amish remain my favored example of a true community that fights death by individualism, where it is that very community that provides its members meaning, purpose, and reference, not autonomy. Shermer contradicts himself by condemning all collectives because of the egregious errors of some, while he notes earlier that we can't write off science for what he sees as the error of Nagasaki. And was Hitler the outcome of community or individual fanaticism gone mad?
For me, this book will remain a rich source of analysis for comparing Shermer's full embrace of modernity with Chantal Delsol's indictment of Enlightenment's spiritual carnage in her "Icarus Fallen." Somewhere there must be a sustainable middle ground.