Sam Benjamin Harris born in April 9, 1967 is an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, critic of religion, blogger, and podcast host. Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. Harris written work and open addresses cover an extensive variety of themes like neuroscience, moral rationality, religion, otherworldly existence, savagery, human thinking, yet he for the most part center around how a developing comprehension of ourselves and the world is changing our feeling of how we should live. (SAM HARRIS) Harris developed a powerful interest in religion as he grew up; even though, he lived in an environment where discussion of religions was not spoken. He enthusiastically learned martial arts in his youth. During his graduation years at the Stanford University, he experimented with drugs which became a source of influential perception which amazed him. He left behind this phase as his growing interest in spirituality …show more content…
But Sam Harris argues that science can and should be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life. "It's generally understood that questions of morality, questions of good and evil, and right and wrong are questions about which science officially has no opinion. It's thought that science can help us get what we value, but it can never tell us what we ought to value," he said in his talk. "Consequently, most people ... think that science will never answer the most important questions in human life. Questions like what is worth living for, what is worth dying for; what constitutes a good life."
As Author, Amitava Kumar, shares an unusual story that tells of a law that is
Harry S. Stout is the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Christianity and Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University, and is also an author. He received his B.A. from Calvin College, M.A. from Kent State University, and Ph.D. from Kent State University. Professor Stout is the author of several books, including The New England Soul, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for history; The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism, which received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for biography as well as the Critic's Award for History in 1991; Dictionary of Christianity in America (of which he was co-editor), which received the Book of the Year Award from Christianity Today in 1990; A Religious History of America (coauthor with Nathan Hatch); and Readings in American Religious History (co-edited with Jon Butler). He most recently contributed to and co-edited Religion in the American Civil War and is currently writing a moral history of the American Civil War. He is also co-editing Religion in American Life, a seventeen-volume study of the impact of religion on American history for adolescent readers and public schools (with Jon Butler). He is general editor of both The Works of Jonathan Edwards and the "Religion in America" series for Oxford University Press. He has written articles for the Journal of Social History, Journal of American Studies, Journal of American History, Theological Education, Computers and the Humanities, and Christian Scholar's Review. He is a contributor to the Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching, Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, and the Reader's Encyclopedia of the American West.
Acts of Faith (2005) is a breathtaking account of civil war and genocide in Sudan penned by Phillip Caputo. The characters veritably dance with life among the pages as they try to help the starving multi-ethnic Sudanese tribes. Set in the mid 1990's, there are no clearly defined protagonists or antagonists as Caputo shows in the novel the full circle of human nature, both evil and good, selfish and selfless.
This can take a turn for the worse: if scientists have to have their work follow what politics, religions, and people believe, we might limit what science stands for. Religion and politics should never have control over science, instead they should use science to help explain their own goals. Science should be used as a way to challenge old beliefs and help clear out fact from fiction. At the same time though, science should challenge itself so it can stay true to its main point of challenging old dogmas, as Carl Sagan said in his article.
In “Young Goodman Brown” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a story about how Young Goodman Brown, who is a recent Christian man and was going to test his faith against the devil, but the devil was not going to make it easy since he test Young Goodman Brown along the way.
Just as there is a variety of identities involving race, gender, and class, so too are there a range of religious identities. Byzantine Catholics, Hindus, born-again Evangelicals, atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists are only a few religious identities I have encountered in America. This environment, at best, allows religious variety to be understood and embraced—and at worst, divides us. In Acts of Faith, author Eboo Patel discusses his belief that the “faith line” will define conflict and concord in the 21st century.
... effect all humanity, and therefore, need to not think on an individual level. J. Michael Bishop states that "The price of science seems large but to reject science is to deny future."(261).
A time comes in everybody's life where they need to be "saved." When this happens a spiritual bond is formed with in that individual. In Langston Hughes' essay, "Salvation," that bond is broken because Langston wasn't saved. It is because Langston turned to Jesus, and in his eyes Jesus wasn't there. This creating a conflict within himself and the members of the church, with the end result being Langston's faith being destroyed.
Their ideas reflected America’s vitality and gumption. William James was a prominent philosopher of ethics from the late 1800s to early 1900s. He was trained in medicine and later used his experience to debate medical ethics. He said there can be no final truth in ethics and posed three questions: what the origin of moral ideas is, the meaning of words such as “good” and “bad” and how people measure these words. His belief that there is no end in ethics is supported by his claim that new solutions to problems must be found continually as a response to new and changing societal demands. James asserts “ethical science is just like physical science, and instead of being deductible all at once from abstract principles, must simply bide its time, and be ready to revise its conclusions,”. James’ beliefs are entirely American in their liberal, religious and accepting views. His beliefs have proven to be withstanding and have become an integral part of the American
Ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.
At the start of his website’s FAQ for the Challenge, Sam Harris summarizes what he calls his book’s central argument. That summary is clearly invalid: he slides from the assumption that moral values “depend on” facts having to do with conscious creatures, to the conclusion that morality itself has scientific answers. This is like saying that because land-dwelling animals depend on ground beneath their feet, biology reduces to geology.
Paul Tillich. “What Faith Is”. The Human Experience: Who Am I?. 8th ed. Winthrop University: Rock Hill SC, 2012. 269-273. Print.
Wilson believes that “consilience is the key to unification” (Wilson 8). With that being said, people should work together to discover new truths. They should use science, since that they were made from science. Learning about themselves will bring about new truths. Learning why they behave the way they do can explore disorders and possible diseases. Science ties in with everything that we see and do. There has to be evidence for everything that people claim. They cannot just say that they sky is blue, they must present evidence that is going to support their argument.
THE SUBJECTIVITY OF MORALITY The problem of moral subjectivity is one that is being discussed by many philosophers around the world. It would seem intuitive to the layman that morality should be subjective, based on what an individual values. Sam Harris, however, would disagree. In his book, The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that morality is, in fact, objective in nature.
Harris brings us many points and views in his TED talk. Though there are some ideas I must agree with, I do not agree with his overall ideology that he is presenting. He persuades the audience by using reason and logic. His main thesis was near the beginning of the video. He states that, “The separation between science and human values is an illusion,” adding that moral choices are decisions made solely upon facts. Science in my opinion can articulate to us what is, not simply what it ought to be. Some values cannot be purely drawn from facts. Facts convey to us a piece of information that is objective, or express to us something known to be true. While values allow us to interpret, internalize,