Better Than Both: The Case for Pessimism is an experiment in "popular philosophy." It presents and discusses (literally) life-and-death issues in non-technical, everyday language. This new work sees pessimism not as a kind of depressed moodiness or self-indulgent negativity, but as the inevitable result of any fair-minded survey of the world we actually live in. It reaches this conclusion by looking into basic human psychology, the record of history, the experience of aging and death, the failure of religion, and many features of both ancient and modern culture. Acknowledging the truth of...

Good God! (And Other Follies) takes a critical and satirical look at the wave of religiosity now sweeping the country. From faith-based initiatives to bans on stem cell research, from public postings of the Ten Commandments to attacks on evolution, American godliness has apparently never had it so good. Much of this behavior and even more of the God-talk accompanying it, whether fueled by passionate faith, cultural resentment, or political opportunism, is intellectually absurd. This book points out this absurdity and explores the underlying fallacies, contradictions and, at times, sheer...

This inspiring book, reissued in a new translation for the modern reader, is considered to be Saint Alphonsus Liguori's best devotional work. Divided into seventeen small chapters, each preceded by prayers and intercessions, it offers practical prescriptions for living a holy life.

This practical commentary on one of the most important scriptures of the Pali canon will provide essential sustenance for Buddhist practitioners. Ayya Khema is a mountain of strength, encouragement, and tough love as she pours out down-to-earth practical instruction on the journey to enlightenment, following the framework set forth in the "Samannaphala-sutta," the Buddha's discourse on the rewards of spiritual life. The sutta— included here in the translation by Bhikkhu Bodhi— contains the Buddha's teachings in response to questions posed by King Ajatasattu. Why, the king asked,...

The inevitability and finality of death have prompted some of the world's most poignant and memorable literature, from the Epic of Gilgamesh of ancient Babylon to the works of contemporary poets and novelists. The conviction that death means everlasting extinction, with no possibility of an afterlife, is described by Peter Heinegg as "mortalism." In this unique anthology he has collected more than fifty selections of poetry and prose that reflect this view.
Contrary to what one might expect, mortalism does not invariably lead to pessimism, despair, or the sense that life is absurd....

Like war and politics, philosophy is too important to be left to professionals. Oh Wait--Now I Get It illustrates this basic truth by tackling a broad spectrum of issues, which include: history, religion, government, sex, family, and death. In fact, the entire contemporary cultural scene from the perspective of a thoughtful amateur philosopher is brought forth within this book. Recalling Neitzsche's dictum that all philosophy is also confession, Professor Peter Heinegg begins with some autobiographical pieces on his background, which include seven years in Jesuit seminaries and doctoral...

That Does It: Desperate Reflections on American Culture is an enfilade of critical attacks on the absurdities, stupidities, and crimes of present-day American life. It's targets are dumb-but-dangerous politicians, infantile-but-invasive preachers, saccharine-but-poisonous cliches, mindless entertainment, spineless media, and a national lifestyle marked by manic consumption and extravagant wastefulness, narcissistic complacency, pseudo-patriotism, and the idiotic worship of more idols than you could throw a verbal IED at. The book provides a handy checklist of ills, from the life threatening...

God: An Obituary is a satirical-analytical view of monotheism in our time. Building on the work of both the great traditional unbelievers--Hume, Mill, Nietzsche, and Freud, among others--and contemporary critics--Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Ibn Warraq, etc.--Heinegg exposes the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In a series of thematic reflections, the author remarks on the absurdity of continuing to worship a being whose existence is attested to almost exclusively by the ravings of hallucinatory "prophets," and whose track record was and is marked by...

This book is a broad survey of our 'sacred texts, ' both Holy Writ and secular masterpieces, whose canonical status often exempt them from hardnosed, commonsense criticism. A frank look at this literature is necessary and reveals a stunning combination of bias and blindness toward women