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  • The Moral Landscape

  • By: Sam Harris
  • Narrated by: Sam Harris
  • Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (410 ratings)

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The Moral Landscape

By: Sam Harris
Narrated by: Sam Harris
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Publisher's Summary

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

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Sam Harris is the tits.

Sam Harris is who Jesus should have been. The ideas expressed here lead to true compassion and empathy. Prepare to have your eyes and mind opened to the objective truths of your existence.

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9 people found this helpful

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Couldn't quite follow

I love Sam Harris's debates but after listening to his second audiobook I can tell I won't listen to another one. It was a conglomerate of interesting points but I quite often failed to folow the line of argument, or maybe there actually was not one there. Sam isjumping between medical technicalities, philosophy, anecdotes and alike without making it really clear where he wants to go and why.

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2 people found this helpful

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More moral than the bible

If only the common man put this much thought and consideration into how to conduct yourself in life. If this doesn't set your mind racing, nothing will

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Not as helpful as I was hoping

I struggle with a book that claims to make a scientific claim but is lathered in emotive language, sweeping statements, and slanderous portrayals of individuals who happen to have a different view to the author. Ridicule is not a scientific argument but this was the technique most commonly applied. Positive arguments usually backed up with the very evidence based adjectives 'clearly' and 'obviously'. Hm. Clear and obvious from a Sam Harris perspective perhaps. I agree with his assertion that truth is discoverable but found his personal version arrogant, biased and neocolonial. Still, wellbeing is a useful concept in discussion of morality (the nuances of this could have been better explored I thought- I write as a medical doctor and mental health practitioner), the chapter on the neuroscience of belief was fascinating, and the chapter on religion started off well before descending into a personal attack on one of the world's most respected scientists. Conclusion: Sam Harris does not like religious people and therefore employs his considerable wit and pseudoscientific arguments to discredit particular individuals. I am a earnest seeker of truth and was disappointed to not find more substance to this book. Will have to look elsewhere for a systematic explanation of morality. If you are planning to read this book I suggest thinking about going straight to the second half where Harris talks more about his own research.

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This is what the word must-read is for.

An absolutely convincing argument for the science of morality, highlighting both the wrongly perceived difficulties as well as the actual difficulties.

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Excellent outlook on the human condition!

I was able to listen to this while enduring a particular shitty time in my life and it definitely helped foster perspective into my life.

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I tried

I purchased this book thinking Sam Harris would discuss morality as it relates to his research background in neuroscience. Unsurprisingly, the book is primarily just an attack on religion and all religious people. It's my own fault for being open-minded enough to try to give Sam Harris a fair go.

I dont mean to sound condescending but it is really difficult to not hate everything about this book. It is essentially Sam working backwards from his conclusion (that religion is the heart of all evil) for almost 10 hours. And of course, my criticism and the criticism of others will be labelled as "religious nuts" not letting go of their dogma or something alike. However, I'm not even religious, I just think that Harris' arguments are lazy, boring and repetitive as hell.

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Enlightening and thought provoking

A beautifully structured and presented account of some of the most fundamental questions about morality and culture.

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Thought provoking content but…

…marred by technical issues.
I heard at least three glitches in the audio, by that I mean a glitch and dropped words. Pretty annoying.
Also the chapters don’t match. Harris says there are 5 chapters but this audiobook has 7.

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Sam Harris says what he means.

I don't quite agree with absolutely everything that Sam Harris outlines in this.

He does, however, make a very compelling case for how science and morality can intertwine, and how they already do.

He makes this case based on clearly outlined logic, scientific knowledge, and real-world situations and examples.

I recommend this book for any atheist who is tired of hearing about how there is no basis for morality without belief in God - this is certainly not the final word on that matter, but this will provide plenty of food for thought, and ammunition for debate.

I also recommend this book for Christian/theist apologists who wish to honestly engage with the 'morality' debate. You will have a much better time of it if you come up with ways to counter the points put forward in this book.

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