Showing titles in Ethics & Morality

The Craftsman explores the relation between the hand and the head. Richard Sennett argues that working with physical things stimulates people to think. Craftsmanship, says Sennett, names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. The computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen all engage in a craftsman's work. In this thought-provoking book, Sennett explores the work of craftsmen past and present.

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie.

'The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.' Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th century because his humanistic, atheistic, if pessimistic views chimed with a new secularism that was emerging from a Western society dominated by religion. Despite his rather forbidding image (and a few outdated views), he is one of the most approachable German philosophers, and this is certainly evident in these two key works, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims.

Discover Simone Weil’s Profound Masterpiece: L’Enracinement Are you searching for a book that delves deeply into the human condition, community, and the essence of belonging? Simone Weil’s L’Enracinement (The Need for Roots) is a timeless classic that speaks directly to the challenges of modern life, offering a profound exploration of the human need for connection and rootedness in a fragmented world. Written during the turmoil of World War II, Weil’s work is a manifesto for rebuilding a society founded on justice, equality, and a true understanding of human dignity. With ...

Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and technology?

One World Now seamlessly integrates major developments of the past decade into Peter Singer's classic text on the ethics of globalization, One World. Singer, often described as the world's most influential philosopher, here addresses such essential concerns as climate change, economic globalization, foreign aid, human rights, immigration, and the responsibility to protect people from genocide and crimes against humanity, whatever country they may be in. Every issue is considered from an ethical perspective.

The Dalai Lama, at his most compassionate and outspoken, here elaborates and deepens his vision for the nonreligious way. Transcending the mere "religion wars", he outlines a system of secular ethics that gives tolerant respect to religion, those that ground ethics in a belief in God and an afterlife, and those that understand good actions as leading to better states of existence in future lives. And yet, with the highest level of spiritual and intellectual authority, the Dalai Lama makes a claim for what he calls a third way.

The American president has come to be the most powerful figure in the world. And back in the 19th century, a great man held that office. William Lee Miller's new book closely examines that great man in that hugely important office: Abraham Lincoln as president.

The fascinating untold story of one scientist’s pursuit of a legendary surfer in his quest to define human nature, written with the compelling drama and narrative insight of Why Fish Don’t Exist and The Lost City of Z. Deep in the archives of New York’s American Museum of Natural History...

In a May 2024 Pew poll, more than two-thirds of Americans indicated they thought that in vitro fertilization (IVF) is good and should be accessible to anyone who wants it. Even among social conservatives—including the current U.S. administration—there is a push for wider accessibility for artificial procreation options. But is IVF truly the gift for infertile couples that it’s perceived to be?

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Justin Avoth and Laurence Dobiesz. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Christopher Rowe read by Justin Avoth. 'Consider just this, and give your minds to this alone: whether or not what I say is just' Plato's...

Warmly narrated by Christian Coulson with atmospheric music and sound design, this Audiofile Earphones award winning book offers listeners a gentle and reflective listening experience. “It’s hard to imagine there’s light when we are so deep in the darkness. But it’s there, so let’s...

The Beginner’s Guide to Nihilism: How to Embrace the Void in a Life Without Meaning is your accessible, thought-provoking introduction to one of philosophy’s most misunderstood ideas. Whether you’re feeling existential dread, curious about the deeper meaning of life (or lack thereof), or simply intrigued by how nihilism shows up in memes, movies, and modern culture—this book is your roadmap. In clear, engaging language, this guide breaks down the origins, types, and evolution of nihilistic thought—from Friedrich Nietzsche and Dostoevsky to internet culture and psychology. You’ll...

In his classic study The Expanding Circle, Peter Singer argues that altruism began as a genetically based drive to protect one's kin and community members but has developed into a consciously chosen ethic with an expanding circle of moral concern. Drawing on philosophy and evolutionary psychology, he demonstrates that human ethics cannot be explained by biology alone.

One of the nation's preeminent scholars and a New York Times bestselling author, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., makes the case that the hard work of becoming a better person should be a critical feature of Black politics. Through virtuoso interpretations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, Glaude shows how we have the power to be the heroes that our democracy so desperately requires.

A micro-preemie fights for survival in this extraordinary and gorgeously told memoir by her parents, both award-winning journalists. Juniper French was born four months early, at 23 weeks' gestation. She weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces, and her twiggy body was the length of a Barbie doll. Her head was...

Aunque Voltaire empezó a escribir cuentos en su etapa de «cortesano», cuando debía amenizar, como gentilhombre de la cámara del rey, los ocios de la corte, en los cuatro títulos que componen el presente volumen -Cándido, Micromegas, Zadig y El Ingenuo- ya están presentes los propósitos de toda su escritura: divulgar las nuevas ideas, combatir la ineptitud y la mentira religiosas, y luchar por la tolerancia.

Why do societies proclaim lofty values yet act in ways that betray them? Why does hypocrisy not only survive across centuries but seem to thrive as a structural feature of human history? In Collective Hypocrisy: How Societies Betray Their Own Values, Hussam Atef Elkhatib, PhD, explores the paradox of virtue and betrayal, power and self-deception, ideals and reality. This philosophical inquiry traces how nations, religions, ideologies, and institutions often wear the mask of morality while practicing its opposite. Drawing on history, politics, psychology, and moral reflection, the book ...

Imagine a war without battlefields. There are no uniforms. Civilians and combatants are indistinguishable. Homes, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings are used as command and communication centers, and for the warehousing of weapons. Apartment rooftops are launching pads; the civilians who live inside . . . human shields. There are over 300 miles of reinforced tunnels, all outfitted with weapons and passageways for terrorists to take hostages and travel freely.

The Conquest of Happiness (1930) is Bertrand Russell’s short, practical guide to living more happily in the modern world. Russell argues that much unhappiness comes from patterns of thought and social pressures—like envy, fear of opinion, boredom, and the obsessive pursuit of status—and that these can be unlearned.