A thoughtful and intriguing account of the relationship between science and spirituality.
A writer offers a critique of scientific materialism coupled with an argument in favor of an ultimate reality beyond empirical confirmation.
Shute avers that people live in an “intellectually inhospitable world,” one in which “overcertainty,” an inelastic and hyperbolic confidence in one’s beliefs, serves as a prohibitive bar to philosophical progress. His principal example is the “dogma of materialist science,” a reductive interpretation of the universe that, despite its increasingly obvious theoretical failings, remains the dominant paradigm for scientists. The author raises provocative questions about the inadequacy of materialism—his discussion is especially stimulating when he considers Darwinian evolution and its limitations, a perspective considered “sacrosanct” despite its incoherencies. In place of these scientific pieties, Shute argues that an ultimate reality exists that transcends perception, a spiritual dimension to life that couldn’t possibly be fully captured by the pinched categories of scientific conceptualization. The author mines psychology, physics, and biology for evidence of these “extradimensional sources of influence on the material world” as well as various altered states of consciousness, including hypnosis and near-death experiences. Shute’s analysis is wide-ranging and ambitious—he considers intractable problems like the nature of consciousness, proposes a more searching understanding of causality than science currently provides, and suggests the reasonability of a mind that survives the death of the body. Despite these grand aims, the author is impressively cautious and restrained regarding his conclusions: “This book seeks to neither prove nor disprove the existence of any particular god, nor the truth or falsity of any particular religion. What this book hopes to do is lend credibility to the idea that an ultimate reality exists behind the doors of perception.” His critique of materialism is not original but it is persuasive, and one can’t help but be impressed by his call for an authentic skepticism, one that refuses to yield easily to facile belief or stubborn disbelief.
A thoughtful and intriguing account of the relationship between science and spirituality.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73-581683-8
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Romar Philosophical Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.
An examination of how the U.S. can revitalize its commitment to freedom.
In this ambitious study, Snyder, author of On Tyranny, The Road to Unfreedom, and other books, explores how American freedom might be reconceived not simply in negative terms—as freedom from coercion, especially by the state—but positive ones: the freedom to develop our human potential within sustaining communal structures. The author blends extensive personal reflections on his own evolving understanding of liberty with definitions of the concept by a range of philosophers, historians, politicians, and social activists. Americans, he explains, often wrongly assume that freedom simply means the removal of some barrier: “An individual is free, we think, when the government is out of the way. Negative freedom is our common sense.” In his careful and impassioned description of the profound implications of this conceptual limitation, Snyder provides a compelling account of the circumstances necessary for the realization of positive freedom, along with a set of detailed recommendations for specific sociopolitical reforms and policy initiatives. “We have to see freedom as positive, as beginning from virtues, as shared among people, and as built into institutions,” he writes. The author argues that it’s absurd to think of government as the enemy of freedom; instead, we ought to reimagine how a strong government might focus on creating the appropriate conditions for human flourishing and genuine liberty. Another essential and overlooked element of freedom is the fostering of a culture of solidarity, in which an awareness of and concern for the disadvantaged becomes a guiding virtue. Particularly striking and persuasive are the sections devoted to eviscerating the false promises of libertarianism, exposing the brutal injustices of the nation’s penitentiaries, and documenting the wide-ranging pathologies that flow from a tax system favoring the ultrawealthy.
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780593728727
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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