Giving the Devil his Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist

ISBN-13: 9781108747585 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 366 str.

Michael Shermer

Opis

Explores how free speech and open inquiry are integral to science, politics, and society for the survival and progress of our species.

Recenzje

'Each essay is well crafted to provoke thoughtful reflection and amply referenced for those who wish to dig deeper into each topic … However, for any reader new to scepticism, Giving the Devil his Due would be an auspicious place to start.' Don Carpenetti, Chemistry World

Spis treści

Introduction. Who is the Devil and what is he due?; Part I. The Advocatus Diaboli: Reflections on Free Thought and Free Speech: 1. Giving the Devil his due: why freedom of inquiry and speech in science and politics is inviolable; 2. Banning evil: in the shadow of the Christchurch massacre, myths about evil and hate speech are misleading; 3. Free speech even if it hurts: defending Holocaust denier David Irving; 4. Free to inquire: the evolution-creationism controversy as a test case in equal time and free speech; 5. Ben Stein's blunder: why intelligent design advocates are not free speech martyrs; 6. What went wrong? Campus unrest, viewpoint diversity, and freedom of speech; Part II. Homo Religiosus: Reflections on God and Religion: 7. E pluribus unum for all faiths and for none; 8. Atheism and liberty: raising consciousness for religious skepticism through political freedom; 9. The curious case of Scientology: is it a religion or a cult?; 10. Does the Universe have a purpose?; 11. Why is there something rather than nothing?; Part III. Deferred Dreams: Reflections on Politics and Society: 12. Another dream deferred: how identity politics, intersectionality theory, and tribal divisiveness are inverting Martin Luther King, Jr's dream; 13. Healing the bonds of affection: the case for classical liberalism; 14. Governing mars: lessons for the red planet from experiments in governing the blue planet; 15. The Sandy Hook effect: what we can and cannot do about gun violence; 16. On guns and tyranny; 17. Debating guns: what conservatives and liberals really differ on about guns (and everything else); 18. Another fatal conceit: the lesson from evolutionary economics is bottom-up self-organization, not top-down government design; Part IV. Scientia Humanitatis: Reflections on Scientific Humanism: 19. Scientific naturalism: a manifesto for Enlightenment humanism; 20. Mr Hume: tear. Down. This. Wall.; 21. Kardashev's types and Sparks' law: how to build civilization 1.0; 22. How lives turn out: genes, environment, and luck – what we can and cannot control; Part V. Transcendent Thinkers: Reflections on Controversial Intellectuals: 23. Transcendent man: an elegaic essay to Paul Kurtz – a skeptic's skeptic; 24. The real hitch: did Christopher Hitchens really keep two sets of books about his beliefs?; 25. The skeptic's chaplain: Richard Dawkins as a fountainhead of skepticism; 26. Have archetype – will travel: the Jordan Peterson phenomenon; 27. Romancing the past: Graham Hancock and the quest for a lost civilization.