On Humanism (Thinking in Action)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.34 (924 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0415305233 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 184 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-07-06 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
It covers the history, philosophy, morality and meaning of humanism with extreme clarity a book of great lucidity, considerable thought and grace.' – New Humanist'Balanced presentations like this are indeed welcome This is a good book: a book to make one think. It is enjoyable as such, but it might also be included as a reading for a Philosophy of Religion course.' – Philosophical Investigations. 'This outline of the humanist philosophy of life by Richard Norman is first class
What is humanism and why does it matter? Is there any doctrine every humanist must hold? If it rejects religion, what does it offer in its place? Have the twentieth century's crimes against humanity spelled the end for humanism?On Humanism is a timely and powerfully argued philosophical defence of humanism. Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, E.M. It is also an impassioned plea that we turn to ourselves, not religion, if we want to answer Socrates' age-old question: what is the best kind of life to lead? Although humanism has much in common with science, Richard Norman shows that it is far from a denial of the more mysterious, fragile side of being human. humanism /'hju:meniz(e)m/ n. He deals with big questions such as the environment, Darwinism and 'creation science', euthanasia and abortion, and then argues that it is ultimately through the human capacity for art, literature and the imagination that humanism is a powerful
The BEST contemporary book on humanism Kerry Walters What a pity that this excellent little book is apparently out of print except for the obscenely over-priced library (I presume) edition. Richard Norman's discussion of humanism is both elegantly written and cogently defended. It is by far the single best recent defense of humanism available. (I might also add that all the other volumes in the series, "Thinking in Action," to which this belongs are also quite good.)In five accessible but rigorous chapters, Norman provides a short history and definitional clarification of humanism; a defense of the superiori. "Excellent New Last Chapter" according to Geoff Crocker. Richard Norman presents a lucid, accessible and compelling case for humanism. He rehearses familiar convincing arguments against religion as truth statement or doctrinal scheme. The exposition of his preferred Darwinian account is however somewhat incomplete. He mentions Gregor Mendel’s work on dominant genes in peas, but does not explain that this counters the challenge to Darwin’s theory of the possible blending of mutations back into host populations. He does not mention W D Hamilton’s work as the source of the ‘selfish gene&rsqu. Required Reading for Humans This book should be on the curriculum of every school in the world.Provides an alternative to outdated ideas of religion.
His work has been mainly in the areas of ethics and political philosophy. Richard Norman is Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Kent, UK.