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In The Blind Spot, astrophysicist Adam Frank, theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser, and philosopher Evan Thompson call for a revolutionary scientific worldview, where science includes-rather than ignores or tries not to see-humanity's lived experience as an inescapable part of our search for objective truth. They urge practitioners to reframe how science works for the sake of our future in the face of the planetary climate crisis and increasing science denialism. When we try to understand reality only through external physical things imagined from this outside position, we lose sight of the necessity of experience. This is the Blind Spot, which the authors show lies behind our scientific conundrums about time and the origin of the universe, quantum physics, life, AI and the mind, consciousness, and Earth as a planetary system. The authors propose an alternative vision: scientific knowledge is a self-correcting narrative made from the world and our experience of it evolving together. The Blind Spot goes where no science book goes, urging us to create a new scientific culture that views ourselves both as an expression of nature and as a source of nature's self-understanding, so that humanity can flourish in the new millennium.
A portrait of America's most interesting yet overlooked women. In the midst of a historic "birth dearth," why do some 5 percent of American women choose to defy the demographic norm by bearing five or more children? Hannah's Children is a compelling portrait of these overlooked but fascinating mothers who, like the biblical Hannah, see their children as their purpose, their contribution, and their greatest blessing. The social scientist Catherine Pakaluk, herself the mother of eight, traveled across the United States and interviewed fifty-five college-educated women who were raising five or more children. Through open-ended questions, she sought to understand who these women are, why and when they chose to have a large family, and what this choice means for them, their families, and the nation. Hannah's Children is more than interesting stories of extraordinary women. It presents information that is urgently relevant for the future of American prosperity. Many countries have experimented with aggressively pro-natalist public policies, and all of them have failed. Pakaluk finds that the quantitative methods to which the social sciences limit themselves overlook important questions of meaning and identity in their inquiries into fertility rates. Her book is a pathbreaking foray into questions of purpose, religion, transcendence, healing, and growth—questions that ought to inform economic inquiry in the future.
A Tibetan Buddhist anthology of accessible and authentic contemplative exercises to help cultivate innate yet undeveloped powers of mind, emotion, and body. A Penguin Classic Drawn from Tibet's rich contemplative literature, Buddhist Meditation offers classic exercises focused on the opportunities and challenges of life; cultivating inner calm; fostering a wider perspective on oneself in relationship to others; working with negative emotions, and the highest values of the Buddhist tradition, love and compassion. Several dozen meditation instructions are collected in twelve chapters. All major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism are represented. The book is structured on "foundation practices", practice manuals that immerse the reader in the search for meaningful and compassionate responses to the ubiquity of human suffering, and in the contemplative techniques that translate that search into consequential action. Spiritual exercises introduce 1) the opportunity for self-betterment and to be of benefit to other living beings; 2) the inescapable persistence of suffering in life, and the reality of death; 3) the workings of ethical cause and effect, otherwise known as karma; and 4) the ever-repeating succession of frustration known as cyclic existence, or samsara. The second set of foundation practices provide tools to build upon including: 5) taking refuge in Buddhism—a deep formal commitment to integrate Buddhist contemplative and ethical teachings into one's life; 6) cultivating love and compassion for all living beings; 7) clearing away cognitive, emotional, and behavioral impediments to actualizing love and compassion; 8) developing with wisdom and the experience and excellent qualities necessary to put love and compassion into practice; and 9) dedicating oneself to a spiritual mentor to serve as a guide through this intensive program of training. Part existential philosophy, part ethics, part self-help program, part cosmology—the foundation exercises present a complete Buddhist picture of life, the ethical universe, and the first steps in making a positive impact in life for ourselves and others, steps anyone can begin to take by dedicating themselves to train in contemplative exercises.
"In When Things Don’t Go Your Way, Haemin Sunim offers readers a warm and reassuring path through the most challenging moments of our lives. By sharing his hard-won wisdom, he guides us from hardship to self-discovery, helping us to stay centered and feel whole." -Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and co-host of the Dear Therapists podcast From renowned Zen Buddhist teacher Haemin Sunim, a guide to turning life's challenges into opportunities for self-discovery Have you ever felt like life has thrown you a curveball? Are you struggling to overcome unexpected challenges and setbacks? While loss, heartbreak, and loneliness are all part of the human experience, in this warm guide, internationally bestselling author Haemin Sunim shows us that these moments can actually be rare opportunities for self-discovery, serving as stepping stones to greater things in life. Drawing on Zen Buddhist philosophy and Sunim’s own experiences, When Things Don't Go Your Way helps you navigate life's challenges with resilience and grace. Whether you're dealing with rejection, uncertainty, loneliness, conflicts in relationships, or burnout—or simply seeking to improve your mental and emotional well-being—Sunim offers a new spiritual perspective, one that helps us face life's challenges with greater ease and understanding, and offers solace and courage when we need it the most.
Wonder and awe lie at the heart of life's most profound questions. Wonderstruck shows how these emotions respond to our fundamental need to make sense of ourselves and everything around us, and how they enable us to engage with the world as if we are experiencing it for the first time. Drawing on the latest psychological insights on emotions, Helen De Cruz argues that wonder and awe are emotional drives that motivate us to inquire and discover new things, and that humanity has deliberately nurtured these emotions in cultural domains such as religion, science, and magic. Tracing how wonder and awe unify philosophy, the humanities, and the sciences, De Cruz provides new perspectives on figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Adam Smith, William James, Rachel Carson, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Abraham Heschel. Along the way, she explains how these singular emotions empower us to be open-minded, to experience joy and hope, and to be resilient in the face of personal troubles and global challenges. Taking inspiration from Descartes's portrayal of wonder as "that sudden surprise of the soul," this illuminating book reveals how wonder and awe are catalysts that can help us reclaim what makes life worth living and preserve the things we find wonderful and valuable in our lives.
"This book inspires us all to immerse ourselves in the vast potential of music and other creative arts to heal our wounds, sharpen our minds, enliven our bodies, and restore our broken connections.” —Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score World-renowned soprano and arts/health advocate Renée Fleming curates a collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience A compelling and growing body of research has shown music and arts therapies to be effective tools for addressing a widening array of conditions, from providing pain relief andalleviating anxiety and depression to regaining speech after stroke or traumatic brain injury, and improving mobility for people with disorders that include Parkinson’s disease and MS. In Music and Mind Renée Fleming draws upon her own experience as an advocate to showcase the breadth of this booming field, inviting leading experts to share their discoveries. In addition to describing therapeutic benefits, the book explores evolution, brain function, childhood development, and technology as applied to arts and health. Much of this area of study is relatively new, made possible by recent advances in brain imaging, and supported by theNational Institutes of Health, major hospitals, and universities. This work is sparking an explosion of public interest in the arts and health sector. Fleming has presented on this material in over fifty cities across North America, Europe, and Asia, collaborating with leading researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. With essays from notable musicians, writers, and artists, as well as leading neuroscientists, Music and Mind is a groundbreaking book, the perfect introduction and overview of this exciting new field. *This program includes a downloadable PDF containing key images and visual aids from the book.
How to live a morally decent life in the midst of today's constant, complex choices In a world of often confusing and terrifying global problems, how should we make choices in our everyday lives? Does anything on the individual level really make a difference? In Catastrophe Ethics, Travis Rieder tackles the moral philosophy puzzles that bedevil us. He explores vital ethical concepts from history and today and offers new ways to think about the “right” thing to do when the challenges we face are larger and more complex than ever before. Alongside a lively tour of traditional moral reasoning from thinkers like Plato, Mill, and Kant, Rieder posits new questions and exercises about the unique conundrums we now face, issues that can seem to transcend old-fashioned philosophical ideals. Should you drink water from a plastic bottle or not? Drive an electric car? When you learn about the horrors of factory farming, should you stop eating meat or other animal products? Do small commitments matter, or are we being manipulated into acting certain ways by corporations and media? These kinds of puzzles, Rieder explains, are everywhere now. And the tools most of us unthinkingly rely on to “do the right thing” are no longer enough. Principles like “do no harm” and “respect others” don’t provide guidance in cases where our individual actions don’t, by themselves, have any effect on others at all. We need new principles, with new justifications, in order to navigate this new world. In the face of consequential and complex crises, Rieder shares exactly how we can live a morally decent life. It’s time to build our own catastrophe ethics.
Awkwardness offers an account of the psychology and philosophical significance of a ubiquitous social phenomenon. Our aversion to awkwardness mirrors our desire for inclusion. This explains its power to influence and silence us: as social creatures, we don't want to mark ourselves as outsiders. As a result, our fear of awkwardness inhibits critique and conversation, acting as an impediment to moral and social progress. Even the act of describing people as "awkward" exacerbates existing inequities, by consigning them to a social status that gives them less access to the social goods (knowledge, confidence, social esteem) needed to navigate potentially awkward situations. Awkwardness discusses how we ostracize and punish those who fail to fit into existing social categories; how we all depend on-and are limited by-social scripts and norms for guidance; and how these norms frequently let us down when we need them. But awkwardness has a positive side: it can highlight opportunities for moral and social improvement, by revealing areas where our social norms and scripts fail to meet our needs or have yet to catch up with changing social and moral realities. Awkwardness ultimately underscores the conflict between our moral motivations and our desire for social approval and conformity.
This program is read by the author. A ten-step guide to reaching your peak potential through the wisdom of Stoic philosophy by entrepreneur and Olympic champion speed skater Mark Tuitert. For twenty years, Mark Tuitert has used the principles of Stoic philosophy to become a gold-medal winning Olympic champion athlete, successful entrepreneur, as well as to deal with the challenges in his professional and private life. Now, in the internationally bestselling book The Stoic Mindset , Mark lays out the ten practical lessons through which everyone, in any situation, can develop a Stoic mindset. Applying the teachings of Stoic masters including Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus to the twenty-first century, Tuitert empowers listeners to discover how Stoicism can change their lives and help them reach their full potential. With a gift for breaking down difficult concepts into practical applications, Tuitert distills thousands of years of Stoic philosophy into ten short principles, with an action item at the end of each chapter to help listeners actualize theories. One step at a time, listeners learn to develop a mindset that is both focused and relaxed, so that they can find fulfillment in a chaotic and unpredictable world. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press Essentials.
"Gaslighting" is suddenly in everyone's vocabulary. It's written about, talked about, tweeted about, even sung about. It's become shorthand for being manipulated by someone who insists that up is down, hot is cold, dark is light-someone who isn't just lying about such things, but trying to drive you crazy. The term has its origins in a 1944 film in which a husband does exactly that to his wife, his crazy-making efforts symbolized by the rise and fall of the gaslights in their home. In this timely and provocative book, Kate Abramson examines gaslighting from a philosophical perspective, investigating it as a distinctive moral phenomenon. Gaslighting, Abramson writes, is best understood as a form of interpersonal interaction, a particular way of fundamentally undermining someone. The gaslighter, Abramson argues, aims to make his target experience herself as incapable of reasoning, perceiving, or reacting in ways that would allow her to form appropriate beliefs, perceptions, or emotions in the first place. He seeks not only to induce in her this unmoored sense of herself but also to make it a reality. Using examples and analysis, Abramson gives an account of gaslighting and its immorality, and argues that such a discussion can help us understand other aspects of social life-from racism and sexism to the structure of interpersonal trust.
With fasting at an all-time high in popularity, here is the first deep exploration into the surprising history and science behind the practice—essential to many religions and philosophies. Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine. It involves doing less but doing less in a radical way. Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice—and embarks on fasts of his own—to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. In recent years, fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons—from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Notable fasters include Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Cesar Chavez, and a long list of others who have drawn on its power over the ages and across borders and cultures. The Fast looks at the complex science behind the jaw-dropping biological phenomena that occur inside the human body when we fast. Metabolic switching induced by fasting can prompt repair and renewal down to the molecular level; such fasting can provide benefits for those suffering from obesity and diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and more. Prolonged fasting can serve both to reinvigorate the immune system and to protect it against damage. Beyond the physical experience, fasting can be a great collective unifier, an instant leveler that connects us purely by virtue of being an act accessible to all, and it has been adopted by religions and political movements all over the world for millennia. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent (Christianity), Ramadan (Islam), Yom Kippur (Judaism), Uposatha (Buddhism), and Ekadashi (Hinduism). On an individual level, devout ascetics who master self-deprivation to an extreme are believed to be closer to the divine, ascending to enlightenment or even sainthood. Through the ages, fasting in the name of justice—a hunger strike—has signaled purity of intent and action. It's a tactic that demands commitment, serves to highlight the cruelty of those in authority, and appeals to shared values: that we're united by a common humanity and we deserve to be heard. Advocates who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Fasting reminds us of the virtues of holding back, of not consuming all that we can. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about taking control of your life in new and empowering ways and reconsidering your place in the world.
How did a European social dance craze become part of an American presidential election? Why did the recording industry become racially divided? Where did rock 'n' roll really come from? And how do all these things continue to reverberate in today's world? In Revolutions in American Music, award-winning author Michael Broyles shows the surprising ways in which three key decades-the 1840s, the 1920s, and the 1950s-shaped America's musical future. Drawing connections between new styles of music like the minstrel show, jazz, and rock 'n' roll, and emerging technologies like the locomotive, the first music recordings, and the transistor radio, Broyles argues that these decades fundamentally remade our cultural landscape in enduring ways. These connections revealed racial fault lines running through the business of music, in an echo of American society as a whole. Broyles combines broad historical perspective with an eye for the telling detail and presents a variety of characters to serve as focal points, including the original Jim Crow, a colorful Hungarian dancing master named Gabriel de Korponay, "Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith, and the singer Johnnie Ray, whom Tony Bennett called "the father of rock 'n' roll." Their stories, and many others, animate Broyles's masterly account of how American music became what it is today.
In Police Deception and Dishonesty, Luke William Hunt-a philosophy professor and former FBI special agent-argues that many of our assumptions about policing and security are unjustified. Through a rich discussion of literature and case studies, he shows that there are compelling reasons to think that the police's widespread use of proactive deception and dishonesty is inconsistent with fundamental norms of political morality-especially norms regarding fraud and the rule of law. Although there are times and places for dishonesty and deception in policing, Hunt evocatively illustrates why those times and places should be much more limited than current practices suggest.
A timely guide on how to live—and think—through the challenges of our century drawn from the life and thought of political theorist Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century’s foremost opponents of totalitarianism “We are free to change the world and to start something new in it.”—Hannah Arendt The violent unease of today’s world would have been familiar to Hannah Arendt. Tyranny, occupation, disenchantment, post-truth politics, conspiracy theories, racism, mass migration: She lived through them all. Born in the first decade of the last century, she escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one of its most influential—and controversial—public intellectuals. She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all, about freedom. Questioning—thinking—was her first defense against tyranny. She advocated a politics of action and plurality, courage and, when necessary, disobedience. We Are Free to Change the World is a book about the Arendt we need for the twenty-first century. It tells us how and why Arendt came to think the way she did, and how to think when our own politics goes off the rails. Both a guide to Arendt’s life and work, and its dialogue with our troubled present, We Are Free to Change the World is an urgent call for us to think, as Hannah Arendt did—unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly—through our own unpredictable times.
From one of our most innovative singers, a vibrant history of song stretching from Hildegard von Bingen and Benjamin Britten to Björk "Songs can be intensely personal (whether you hear them or sing them) and none of us would choose the same twelve songs as anyone else. My choices are based on decades of performing experience in many different genres, but I hope they will reveal aspects of our common humanity as the story evolves from the Middle Ages to the present." In this celebratory account, author and singer John Potter tells the European story of song. The form has captivated audiences and excited performers for centuries, from the music of the troubadours and the Christian liturgy through classical composers such as Bach and Schumann up to Britten, Berio, and the rise of popular music. Choosing twelve key works, Potter offers a personal tour through this vital tradition, from John Dowland's "Flow My Tears" to George Gershwin's "Summertime." Throughout, he reveals who wrote and sang these joyful masterpieces-and what they mean to singers and audiences today.
Observe social distancing. Tip your waiter. Give priority to the elderly. Stop at the red light. Pay your taxes. Do not chew with your mouth open. These are imperatives we face every day, imposed upon us by norms that happen to be generally accepted in our environment. These 'socially constructed norms' elicit mixed feelings. On the one hand, we treat them as valid standards of behavior and respond to their violation with emotions such disapproval, resentment, and guilt. On the other hand, we look at them with suspicion: after all, they are arbitrary human constructs that may contribute to oppression and injustice. In light of this ambivalence, it is important to have a criterion telling us when, if ever, we are morally bound by socially constructed norms and when we should instead disregard them. Morality and Socially Constructed Norms systematically develops such a criterion. It traces the moral significance of those norms to the agential commitments that underpin them, and explains why those commitments ought to be respected, provided the content of the corresponding norms is consistent with independent moral constraints. The book then explores the implications of this view for three core questions in moral, legal, and political philosophy: the grounding of moral rights, the obligation to obey the law, and the wrong of sovereignty violations.
Distraction isn't a new problem. We're also not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Early Christian monks beat us to it. They had given up everything to focus on God, yet they still struggled to keep the demons of distraction at bay. But rather than surrender to the meandering of their minds, they developed powerful strategies to improve their attention and engagement. How to Focus is an inviting collection of their strikingly relatable insights and advice-frank, funny, sympathetic, and psychologically sophisticated. This wisdom is drawn from John Cassian's Collationes, one of the most influential manuals for monks from late antiquity. The Collationes follow Cassian and his friend Germanus as they travel around Egypt, asking a series of sage monks how they can make their minds stronger. In response, these monks offer a range of techniques for increasing focus, including setting goals, training the body, managing the memory, using mantras, taking breaks, consulting others-and, most of all, being honest about yourself. As Cassian and Germanus eventually realize, we can't escape distraction-but we can learn how to confront it and, eventually, to concentrate. Featuring an engaging new translation by Jamie Kreiner, How to Focus can help even the least monkish of us to train our attention on what matters most.
Brought to you by Penguin. We all notice when the poor get poorer: when there are more rough sleepers and food bank queues start to grow. But if the rich become richer, there is nothing much to see in public and, for most of us, daily life doesn't change. Or at least, not immediately. In this astonishing, eye-opening intervention, world-leading philosopher and economist Ingrid Robeyns exposes the true extent of our wealth problem, which has spent the past fifty years silently spiralling out of control. In moral, political, economic, social, environmental and psychological terms, she shows, extreme wealth is not only unjustifiable but harmful to us all - the rich included. In place of our current system, Robeyns offers a breathtakingly clear alternative: limitarianism. The answer to so many of the problems posed by neoliberal capitalism - and the opportunity for a vastly better world - lies in placing a hard limit on the wealth that any one person can accumulate. Because no-one should have more than ten million, and no one needs more than one million. Not even you. ©2024 Ingrid Robeyns (P)2024 Penguin Audio.
Brought to you by Penguin. A reassuring and thought-provoking guide to all the big questions about AI and ethics Should robots ever be considered free? Will computers transcend human intelligence? And what can we do to make sure AI is safe? The artificial intelligence revolution has begun. Today, there are self-driving cars on our streets, autonomous weapons in our armies, robot surgeons in our hospitals - and AI's presence in our lives will only increase. Some see this as the dawn of new era in innovation and ease; others are alarmed by its destructive potential. But one thing is clear: this is a technology like no other, one that raises profound questions about freedom, justice and the very definition of human agency. In Moral AI , world-renowned researchers in artificial intelligence and philosophy, Jana Schaich Borg, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Vince Conitzer tackle these thorny issues head-on. Writing lucidly and calmly, they lay out the recent advances in this still nascent field, peeling away the exaggeration and alarm, and offer clear examinations of the moral concerns at the heart of AI programmes. Ultimately, they argue that artificial intelligence can be built and used safely and ethically, but that its potential cannot be achieved without careful reflection on the values we wish to imbue it with. This is an essential primer for any thinking person. ©2024 Jana Schaich Borg, Vincent Conitzer, and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (P)2024 Penguin Audio.
Essays on human alienation, mode of existence, consumerism, narcissism, and more from "both a psychologist of penetration and a writer of ability" (Chicago Tribune). As Erich Fromm points out, ours is "a life between having and being"-between mere having and healthy being, between destructiveness and creativity, between narcissism and productive self-understanding, between passivity and the joy of positive activity. The alternatives of having and being are basic orientations of our character and determine our behavior. The mostly unpublished and unknown texts featured in The Essential Fromm encapsulate the psychologist's views on the fulfilling life. To put down roots yet remain free is what the late Erich Fromm called the art of being. It is the secret of happiness.