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Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism

  • Book
  • Oct 28, 2014
  • #Philosophy #Spirituality
Philip Kitcher
@PhilipKitcher
(Author)
www.goodreads.com
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3.19/5 92 ratings
1 Recommender
1 Mention
1 Collection
Although there is no shortage of recent books arguing against religion, few offer a positive alternative—how anyone might live a fulfilling life without the support of religious bel... Show More

Although there is no shortage of recent books arguing against religion, few offer a positive alternative—how anyone might live a fulfilling life without the support of religious beliefs. This enlightening book fills the gap. Philip Kitcher constructs an original and persuasive secular perspective, one that answers human needs, recognizes the objectivity of values, and provides for the universal desire for meaningfulness.
 
Kitcher thoughtfully and sensitively considers how secularism can respond to the worries and challenges that all people confront, including the issue of mortality. He investigates how secular lives compare with those of people who adopt religious doctrines as literal truth, as well as those who embrace less literalistic versions of religion. Whereas religious belief has been important in past times, Kitcher concludes that evolution away from religion is now essential. He envisions the successors to religious life, when the senses of identity and community traditionally fostered by religion will instead draw on a broader range of cultural items—those provided by poets, filmmakers, musicians, artists, scientists, and others. With clarity and deep insight, Kitcher reveals the power of secular humanism to encourage fulfilling human lives built on ethical truth.

(From Goodreads)

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Number of Pages: 200

ISBN: 0300203438

ISBN-13: 9780300203431

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Phil Treagus-Evans @philtreagus · Feb 4, 2018
  • Curated in THE BEST MODERN PHILOSOPHY BOOKS
Kitcher’s book has the rare merit of advancing a short, readable but ambitious and insightful investigation into the challenges facing contemporary “secular humanism”. Kitcher aims to show that while most forms of orthodox religious belief may well be found “incredible”, there is still reason to resist “the now dominant atheist idea that religion is noxious rubbish”. This book may be read alongside Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2007 – which was published just outside the period that we are now considering). Taylor’s study, which is both (very) long and demanding, presents an erudite study of the rise of secularism and its implications for the future of religious life. There is a rather interesting contrast with respect to both the methods and conclusions of these two works, although they also converge on several important points.
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