The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom
Jul 2024 · Macmillan + ORM
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About this ebook
The New York Times–bestselling author of The Believing Brains explores how science makes us better people.
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 explains 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.
"Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality." —Neil deGrasse Tyson
"A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night." —Richard Dawkins
"[A] brilliant contribution . . . Sherman's is an exciting vision." — Nature
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 explains 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.
"Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality." —Neil deGrasse Tyson
"A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night." —Richard Dawkins
"[A] brilliant contribution . . . Sherman's is an exciting vision." — Nature
Ratings and reviews
4.1
14 reviews
Yosua Simanjuntak
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April 2, 2015
I never thought that morality would be an insteresting subject!!
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Michael Shermer is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior. He is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. He lives in Southern California.
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