The Soul Delusion
Autor David P. Barashen Limba Engleză Hardback – 22 ian 2026
The soul, like the Christian notion of the devil, has increasingly become contested, even for traditional believers. Considered objectively, the soul is a strange notion, one entirely at odds with everything we know about how the world actually works. And yet belief in the soul persists, among both the religiously inclined and non-believers.
The Soul Delusion is a wake-up call, encouraging readers to think critically about something widely taken for granted. Evolutionary biologist David P. Barash takes a deep dive into the nature of the soul by reviewing the diverse and often conflicting notions of what the soul is supposed to be and revealing practical problems deriving from such delusive beliefs: how the soul-certain agitate against early and mid-stage abortions because of their insistence that an embryo has a soul, and thus, must be "saved", even at the risk of the mother's health, for instance, and how soul-belief has provided marching orders for cruelty toward animals because of the claim that only we have souls and therefore animals don't deserve protection.
The Soul Delusion also aims to liberate people from fear of hell and free them to enjoy what poet Mary Oliver called "your wild and precious life." It challenges the assumption that a soul is needed for people to live moral lives, while exposing the misleading nature of supposed near death experiences. It also illuminates how being soul-free opens us to an appreciation of our wonderful lives in the real, the here-and-now, and the prospect of a future without souls.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9798881805685
Pagini: 224
Ilustrații: 12 b/w photos
Dimensiuni: 158 x 232 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.46 kg
Editura: Bloomsbury Publishing
Colecția Bloomsbury Academic
Locul publicării:New York, United States
Pagini: 224
Ilustrații: 12 b/w photos
Dimensiuni: 158 x 232 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.46 kg
Editura: Bloomsbury Publishing
Colecția Bloomsbury Academic
Locul publicării:New York, United States
Cuprins
1. Grappling With the Grin
2. What Is It?
3. The Cosmic Carrot-Escaping Death
4. The Cosmic Stick-Hell
5. The Golden Helmet of Centrality
6. Dueling with Dualism
7. Purported Proofs and Practical Problems
8. Soul-Free!
2. What Is It?
3. The Cosmic Carrot-Escaping Death
4. The Cosmic Stick-Hell
5. The Golden Helmet of Centrality
6. Dueling with Dualism
7. Purported Proofs and Practical Problems
8. Soul-Free!
Recenzii
In The Soul Delusion, David Barash, wise scientific philosopher and well-read scholar, deftly disposes of dualism, of human exceptionalism, of the soul, especially the vain aspiration to immortality-that cluster of straws still grasped by those who shrink from standing full-face to the bracing wind of reality.
An immaterial soul may sound appealing, but it requires a belief in miracles, and it devalues life on earth. With clarity and wit, David Barash reviews the scientific, personal, and moral case against this archaic notion-and shows how appreciating our actual lives is the ultimate uplifting value.
In The Soul Delusion, David Barish performs an impressive high-wire act. On one hand, he wields materialism in gleefully savaging the absurd concept of a soul (not to mention also heaping contempt on those who profit from cynically selling the fantasy). At the same time, he never forgets how human exultation and anguish have fueled and been fueled by a belief in the soul. This makes for a superb read, erudite and stimulating.
The Soul Delusion is bracing, funny, and unapologetically blunt. David Barash takes one of the most widely cherished ideas in human history-the soul-and subjects it to ruthless scientific and philosophical scrutiny. The result is a sharp, deeply informed, and often darkly entertaining argument that there's nothing immaterial lurking inside us.
David Barash's brilliant, ground-breaking magisterial book on the soul is the best analysis and demolition of the topic I ever encountered, and his final chapter on what it means to live in the here-and-now and find meaning in this life is an especially must read.
Barash's brilliant book is breathtaking, regardless of whether you believe you have a soul. Excising the dualistic delusion allows us to see through the glass clearly to live a meaningful and authentic life.
Perhaps no more poetic concept exists than the notion of soul. After all, we all feel like we have a soul, something unique to our being that many hope will survive after they die. But alas, it doesn't exist. There is no evidence for anything otherworldly beyond the biochemistry of our brains. This idea is repugnant to many people, so that even people I have met who don't believe in God, somehow make room for a 'soul'. It takes a clear head and an ambitious mind to tackle humanity's fixation with this illusion, but David Barash is up to the task. From history to theology to science, he systematically demolishes the unfortunate idea that the soul is anything more than a poetic notion designed to make us feel better about ourselves, or to ward off the fear of death. What better way to spend an afternoon?
Wow! This philosophical and scientific tour de force brilliantly dismantles the existence and even the concept of the soul. The Soul Delusion's arguments are exhaustive, weaving together psychology, biology, philosophy, and theology ways both rigorous and revelatory. I can't imagine a more comprehensive or compelling case.
Most people, whether religious or not, seem never to question the assumption that they have souls. The Soul Delusion offers a bracing response to this threadbare relic of a superstitious past. Written with his trademark brilliance and panache, David Barash takes us on a rollicking ride through the weird intellectual landscape of soul-apologetics, and guides us out the other end. I love this book, and I bet you will too!
A rich yet fluid, comprehensible survey and analysis of soul-belief and its soulless antidote, and a compelling counterpoint to the all-too-casual assumption of spiritual presence. Riveting reading for both secular and religious thinker, theorist, and devotee.
An immaterial soul may sound appealing, but it requires a belief in miracles, and it devalues life on earth. With clarity and wit, David Barash reviews the scientific, personal, and moral case against this archaic notion-and shows how appreciating our actual lives is the ultimate uplifting value.
In The Soul Delusion, David Barish performs an impressive high-wire act. On one hand, he wields materialism in gleefully savaging the absurd concept of a soul (not to mention also heaping contempt on those who profit from cynically selling the fantasy). At the same time, he never forgets how human exultation and anguish have fueled and been fueled by a belief in the soul. This makes for a superb read, erudite and stimulating.
The Soul Delusion is bracing, funny, and unapologetically blunt. David Barash takes one of the most widely cherished ideas in human history-the soul-and subjects it to ruthless scientific and philosophical scrutiny. The result is a sharp, deeply informed, and often darkly entertaining argument that there's nothing immaterial lurking inside us.
David Barash's brilliant, ground-breaking magisterial book on the soul is the best analysis and demolition of the topic I ever encountered, and his final chapter on what it means to live in the here-and-now and find meaning in this life is an especially must read.
Barash's brilliant book is breathtaking, regardless of whether you believe you have a soul. Excising the dualistic delusion allows us to see through the glass clearly to live a meaningful and authentic life.
Perhaps no more poetic concept exists than the notion of soul. After all, we all feel like we have a soul, something unique to our being that many hope will survive after they die. But alas, it doesn't exist. There is no evidence for anything otherworldly beyond the biochemistry of our brains. This idea is repugnant to many people, so that even people I have met who don't believe in God, somehow make room for a 'soul'. It takes a clear head and an ambitious mind to tackle humanity's fixation with this illusion, but David Barash is up to the task. From history to theology to science, he systematically demolishes the unfortunate idea that the soul is anything more than a poetic notion designed to make us feel better about ourselves, or to ward off the fear of death. What better way to spend an afternoon?
Wow! This philosophical and scientific tour de force brilliantly dismantles the existence and even the concept of the soul. The Soul Delusion's arguments are exhaustive, weaving together psychology, biology, philosophy, and theology ways both rigorous and revelatory. I can't imagine a more comprehensive or compelling case.
Most people, whether religious or not, seem never to question the assumption that they have souls. The Soul Delusion offers a bracing response to this threadbare relic of a superstitious past. Written with his trademark brilliance and panache, David Barash takes us on a rollicking ride through the weird intellectual landscape of soul-apologetics, and guides us out the other end. I love this book, and I bet you will too!
A rich yet fluid, comprehensible survey and analysis of soul-belief and its soulless antidote, and a compelling counterpoint to the all-too-casual assumption of spiritual presence. Riveting reading for both secular and religious thinker, theorist, and devotee.