Why Can't We Be Good? - Hardcover

Needleman, Jacob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585425419 ISBN 13: 9781585425419

Publisher: Tarcher, 2007

Synopsis

The professor of philosophy author of The American Soul offers insight into the inability of human beings to adopt the ethical, moral, and religious ideas imparted by the historical world, in a series of case studies that makes optimistic recommendations for understanding and managing ethical dilemmas.

About this title

About the Author:

The acclaimed author of The American Soul, Why Can’t We Be Good? and Money and the Meaning of Life, Jacob Needleman is Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, and former Director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He lives in Oakland, CA.

From Publishers Weekly:

Most people have a intrinsic desire to do good rather than evil, yet all humans fail in perplexing ways to do good. Needleman's titular question has haunted philosophers and religious thinkers since Socrates. Needleman, professor of philosophy at San Francisco State and popular author of Lost Christianity, offers his eloquent and entertaining thoughts about why humans are such flops at goodness. He draws on a wide range of philosophers, religious thinkers and psychologists—from Socrates to Buddha to Rabbi Hillel—and discovers that our inability to be good is simple: humans are creatures of choice, and our freedom allows us to make bad choices as well as good ones. This freedom, however, is also "the freedom to love and act justly toward man." Using exercises from his own classes, Needleman suggests that the practice of attending to the other—listening carefully, repeating what the other person has said to ensure an accurate hearing—moves us a long way toward achieving the good. Though Needleman's answer to this age-old question about goodness is no more satisfying or original than any other, his lively prose, storytelling skills and lucid insights draw us into an animated conversation with a brilliant teacher. (Feb.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Tarcher
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1585425419
• ISBN 13: 9781585425419
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304