Sam Harris: Critical Responses
Description
Sam Harris sparked off the unexpected phenomenon of the New Atheism with his best-seller The End of Faith (2004), and has since authored five more best-sellers on different topics, as well as becoming a leading presence on social media. His blog Making Sense has an enormous popular following.
Harris is celebrated as an opponent of theistic religion, a warning voice against the menace of Islamism, an atheist advocate of spiritual meditation (in the Tibetan Buddhist manner), a proponent of the controversial view that science can solve all ethical problems, and a disbeliever in the existence of free will.
Harris is frequently a target of hostility. Critics accuse him of a soulless mechanistic worldview, a bigoted Islamophobism, and a scientistic denial of deeper humanity. Typical of many bitter attacks on Harris is that of Union Theological Seminary professor Robert Wright, who wrote in 2018 that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it.” Harris has been identified as a member of "the Intellectual Dark Web,” though he has recently disavowed any further adherence to that group. Harris's much-anticipated confrontation with Jordan Peterson on the subject of religion disappointingly fell flat when Harris and Peterson were unable to get on to the serious discussion because they could not agree on the definition of the word "truth.”
Sam Harris: Critical Responses is a collection of essays criticizing different aspects of Harris's thinking from a range of diverse perspectives—left and right, Christian and atheist, philosophical, psychological, and political. Though the criticisms are often severe, the approach is always reasonable and respectful. As one noted author commented on Sandra Woien's previous collection, Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, "Both fans and foes will appreciate this volume.”More details
Person
Content
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword: Why Sam Harris Matters
STEPHEN R.C. HICKS xiii
The Sam Harris Phenomenon xvii
I What Human Life Is For 1
1. Another Red Pill
SANDRA WOIEN 3
2.My Life Gives the Moral Landscape Its Relief MARC CHAMPAGNE 17
II Liberal Values 39
3.Spotting Dangerous Ideas DAVID RAMSAY STEELE 41
4.Intellectual Integrity or Social Justice? LUCAS RIJANA 57
5.Is Redistribution the Endgame? ANTONY SAMMEROFF 69
III Science and Ethics 91
6. The Mantle of Neuroscience RAY SCOTT PERCIVAL 93
7.A Miserable Argument MARK WARREN 115
8.Dark Spots in Sam Harris's Moral Landscape DAVID GORDON 127
9.A Moral Compass that Works ERIK BOORNAZIAN AND JAMES W. DILLER 139
IV The Specter of Artificial Intelligence 151
10.Sam Harris and the Myth of Machine Intelligence JOBST LANDGREBE AND BARRY SMITH 153
11.Are We Too Dumb for Superintelligence? LISA BELLANTONI 163
12.Solutions to the Existential Threat of AI LEONARD KAHN 177
Part V I Feel Free 191
13.Neural Determinism and Neural Roulette JOHN LEMOS 193
14.Let's Talk about Free Will! MEGAN DRURY 207
Part VI Beyond the Physical Cosmos 221
15.Another Thing in This Universe that Cannot Be an Illusion MAANELI DERAKHSHANI 223
16.Intimations of the Numinous REG NAULTY 235
Part VII No End to Faith 247
17.A Rational Proposal BETHEL MCGREW 249
18.Is Sam Harris Right about the Miracles of Jesus? MICHAEL BARROS AND BETHEL MCGREW 261
19.Scientism as Religion and Religion as Wisdom RON DART 275
About the Authors 287
Index 295
