Description
Book SynopsisIn The Morality Wars, contributors from religious and non-religious backgrounds debate the origin and nature of human goodness. While the subject is often addressed by prominent figures on both sides of the believer/atheist divide on public platforms and social media, participants seldom get the opportunity to explain their viewpoints in depth. In addition to engaging the question of the role of religious faith― or its absence― in the development of the moral conscience, the contributors draw on and engage with philosophers and other thinkers who are often neglected when committed theologians and atheists debate each other, such as Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jacques Lacan.
Trade ReviewThis book offers a lively debate concerning the nature of morality and its foundations by a wide variety of contributors from both religious and nonreligious perspectives. The international list of contributors are all well-known and seasoned debaters. They include neuroscientists, analytic philosophers, theologians, Christian apologists, philosophers of science, mathematicians, bioethicists, and a theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. Rarely do the perspectives represented by this high-caliber slate of contributors find their way into a single volume. The spirited debate offered in these pages deserves a wide hearing.
-- Philip Blosser, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Table of ContentsThe Morality Wars: A Discussion on Why We Are Good Louise Mabille
Part I: The Naturalists
1. A Science of Good and Evil Sam Harris
2. The Origins of Morality in the Human Psyche Bert Olivier
3 .Morality as Delusion Michael Ruse
4 .Return to the Enlightenment Susan Neiman
Part II: The Ambivalents
5. No science of morality Steven Weinberg
6. Misunderstanding Moral Psychology Jonathan Haidt
7. The Use and Abuse of Naturalism for Morality Louise Mabille
Part III: The Theists
8. My God-Given Conscience Henk Stoker
9. Theism as Meta-Ethical Foundation for Morality William Lane Craig
10. Morality as Based on Natural Law Richard Howe
11. Ethics Needs God Paul Copan
12. Biologizing Ethics and the Destruction of Morality John Lennox
