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The Moral Landscape

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The Moral Landscape

By: Sam Harris
Narrated by: Sam Harris
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About this listen

Sam Harris has discovered that most people, from secular scientists to religious fundamentalists, agree on one point: science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, science’s failure to address questions of meaning and morality has become the primary justification for religious faith. The underlying claim is that while science is the best authority on the workings of the physical universe, religion is the best authority on meaning, values, morality, and leading a good life. Sam Harris shows us that this is not only untrue; it cannot possibly be true.

Bringing a fresh, secular perspective to age-old questions of right and wrong, and good and evil, Harris shows that we know enough about the human brain and how it reacts to events in the world to say that there are right and wrong answers to the most pressing questions of human life. Because such answers exist, moral relativism is simply false – and comes at increasing cost to humanity.

Using his expertise in philosophy and neuroscience, along with his experience on the front lines of the cultural war between science and religion, Harris delivers an explosive argument about the future of science, and about the real basis of human relationships.

©2011 Sam Harris (P)2011 Random House Audiobooks Ethics & Morality History & Philosophy Philosophy Physics Science Morality Thought-Provoking Human Brain

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All stars
Most relevant  
So much food for thought but having a voice actor would improve the book immensely.

Hugely important read.

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Excellent arguments on the nature of morality (and reality!!) from Mr. Harris, and another (deservedly) excoriating put down of the bane of modern societies, organised religion and its deluded adherents!! Great work!!🙂👍

Thought provoking.

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Sam Harris is a true genius slaying the spurious claims of Religion and Dogma

some static

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An interesting concept is raised in this book but Sam Harris fails to give me much enthusiasm for it. He also speaks very quickly and uses a lot of jargon which can make it difficult to follow unless you have studied this topic before.

Interesting

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It is difficult to fault Sam's logic or indeed intentions here. The concept of the Moral Landscape deserves to be at the forefront of our discourse on morality.

Highly recommended

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Very timely and well thought out. Sam Harris eloquently puts the case for a scientific morality based on the avoidance of human suffering and the truth if human well being. astonished, as we all should be, that even scientists balk at this idea.

Strong case for reason over faith in morality

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This is incredibly interesting and thought provoking. I definitely don't think that one listen through on an audiobook is enough to have a fully formed opinion on the content.

However I can absolutely say that overuse of "quote" and "end quote" is immoral!😉

Not one that I can assess after one pass

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Many people (including myself, prior to listening to this book) think that either your moral opinions come from some dogmatic ancient book (the Bible etc) or else they are completely arbitrary ("moral relativism").
In this book Sam Harris puts forward an alternative that I find to be a helpful way out of this seeming dichotomy.
If you liked 'The God Delusion' then I think you'll like this.

The ideas were new (to me) and optimistic

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i found this to be a compelling , well reasoned contribution to an important subject.
it is a timely offering that deserves serious consideration
many thanks

worrh reading

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Definitely thought-provoking and worth the time. I have to be honest, I was reluctant to read this because after hearing hours upon hours upon hours of Sam Harris debates and podcasts, I was sure that I had him figured out. So while perhaps his moral and philosophical views were clear, giving Sam a chance to extensively defend his position bears value. 


Having that said, despite Sam's enthusiasm and vigor -  there is really not much reason in the book to stop being skeptical of the possibility of "Study of morality". Nor is Sam himself trying to suggest otherwise. Not only in terms of limitations of neuroscience but also (and perhaps most) in terms of utilization of any such knowledge that may or may not be born in the future. 


Where I believe this book's true value lies is in outlying societal disregard for reason, the pitfalls of pragmatism in the scientific community where none should exist, the negative impact of politics on sciences, the difficult question on how much does one allow his or her personal beliefs impact search for knowledge (and in passing perhaps even how strong are we to conquer our inhibitions of comfortable ignorance) and many more such questions. 


I suggest reading this book with the following question in mind:

What price do we as entire species potentially pay for the ignorance of comfortable conformity with our cultural beliefs? 


Perhaps the demographic that would most benefit from this book are the philosophically minded people, in particular those that have studied it as opposed to merely having read it. While the book does not give any definite answers, its underlying notion demonstrates very well how recent developments in one branch of science could "pull the rug from under the feet" from our general understanding on how the world and people, as part of the world, work. 


That alone in itself is a valuable lesson to take from this book. Admitting it theoretically and being exposed to it in more relatable terms are two very different things. And I think Sam Harris deserves praise for successfully enabling the latter. 

Thought-provoking

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