Do you believe in God? Nine out of ten Americans unhesitatingly answer yes. But for Douglas Porpora, the real questions begin where pollsters leave off. What, he asks, does religious belief actually mean in our lives? Does it shape our identities and our actions? Or, despite our professions of faith, are we morally adrift? Landscapes of the Soul paints a disturbing picture of American spiritual life. In his search for answers to his questions, Porpora interviewed clerks and executives, Jews, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Taoists, and even followers of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh....
Do you believe in God? Nine out of ten Americans unhesitatingly answer yes. But for Douglas Porpora, the real questions begin where pollsters leave of...
Atheism as a belief does not have to present intellectual credentials within academia. Yet to hold beliefs means giving reasons for doing so, ones which may be found wanting. Instead, atheism is the automatic default setting within the academic world. Conversely, religious belief confronts a double standard. Religious believers are not permitted to make truth claims but are instead forced to present their beliefs as part of one language game amongst many. Religious truth claims are expected to satisfy empiricist criteria of evidence but when they fail, as they must, religious belief...
Atheism as a belief does not have to present intellectual credentials within academia. Yet to hold beliefs means giving reasons for doing so, ones whi...
Comparing the general public's reaction to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany with American public opinion of US participation in the genocidal policies of Nicaraguan counter-revolutionary forces, this title demonstrates that moral indifference to the suffering of others was the common response.
Comparing the general public's reaction to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany with American public opinion of US participation in the genocidal policies of...
Porpora is concerned with the concept of social structure and with the relationship between social structure and the individual. He focuses on two different conceptions of social structure, the Durkheimian conception, which is the dominant way in which social structure is conceptualized by sociologists, and an alternative conception, based on a reading of Marx. The author discusses in depth the various aspects of these two divergent theories and shows how the Marxian conception of social structure underlies even the newer structural analyses of racism, sexism, and power that go beyond...
Porpora is concerned with the concept of social structure and with the relationship between social structure and the individual. He focuses on two ...
