Szasz (Emeritus, Psychiatry/SUNY Syracuse; The Meaning of Mind, 1996, etc.) has produced an intelligent critique of the cultural misunderstanding of suicide without providing a positive description that might give readers a reason to let suicidal loved ones alone. Contemporary Western culture, Szasz contends, has stigmatized suicide in ways that surely are not historically universal, and may not be instinctive. The sense that suicide is wrong is a religious-philosophical position articulated by Plato and adopted by the Christian Church. Saint Augustine formulated what is known as the —double effect— theory of sin: When an act has one beneficial and one malicious consequence, only the intent of the actor is liable to ethical judgment. This theory, in Szasz’s view, laid the foundation for later Western ethics to characterize the act of suicide as symptomatic of something else—most often, insanity. Anyone who commits suicide is divided into the component who receives the lethal wound and the (insane) component who inflicts it. This confusion of moral agency, moral consequence, and the nature of the self leads to a dozen legal and ethical contradictions, and Szasz is particularly persuasive in hacking through the thicket of medical ethics in —right-to-die— circumstances. How can it enhance patients— rights, he asks, to have death induced by a doctor alone, when a genuine right would leave access to suicide unrestricted? Szasz waxes impatient with our refusal to acknowledge the integrity of suicide, and recommends the ’suicidal— be left alone. Although he admits some suicides may be symptoms of something else, he offers no way to distinguish the acid tripper flying off a rooftop from the philosopher who contemplatively decides to end her life. Szasz cogently argues that we are wrong to call all suicides —victims— of something else. But until we can tell the reasonable self-extinction from the ghastly mistake, we—ll probably continue to err on the side of caution.
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-275-96646-1
Page Count: 177
Publisher: Praeger
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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