Moral, Believing Animals

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199731977
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Moral, Believing Animals by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Moral, Believing Animals written by Christian Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What kind of animals are human beings? And how do our visions of the human shape our theories of social action and institutions? In Moral, Believing Animals, Christian Smith advances a creative theory of human persons and culture that offers innovative, challenging answers to these and other fundamental questions in sociological, cultural, and religious theory. Smith suggests that human beings have a peculiar set of capacities and proclivities that distinguishes them significantly from other animals on this planet. Despite the vast differences in humanity between cultures and across history, no matter how differently people narrate their lives and histories, there remains an underlying structure of human personhood that helps to order human culture, history, and narration. Drawing on important recent insights in moral philosophy, epistemology, and narrative studies, Smith argues that humans are animals who have an inescapable moral and spiritual dimension. They cannot avoid a fundamental moral orientation in life and this, says Smith, has profound consequences for how sociology must study human beings.

Moral, Believing Animals

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199883025
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis Moral, Believing Animals by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Moral, Believing Animals written by Christian Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-07-10 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What kind of animals are human beings? And how do our visions of the human shape our theories of social action and institutions? In Moral, Believing Animals, Christian Smith advances a creative theory of human persons and culture that offers innovative, challenging answers to these and other fundamental questions in sociological, cultural, and religious theory. Smith suggests that human beings have a peculiar set of capacities and proclivities that distinguishes them significantly from other animals on this planet. Despite the vast differences in humanity between cultures and across history, no matter how differently people narrate their lives and histories, there remains an underlying structure of human personhood that helps to order human culture, history, and narration. Drawing on important recent insights in moral philosophy, epistemology, and narrative studies, Smith argues that humans are animals who have an inescapable moral and spiritual dimension. They cannot avoid a fundamental moral orientation in life and this, says Smith, has profound consequences for how sociology must study human beings.

Moral, Believing Animals

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780195347531
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (475 download)

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Book Synopsis Moral, Believing Animals by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Moral, Believing Animals written by Christian Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-07-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What kind of animals are human beings? And how do our visions of the human shape our theories of social action and institutions? In Moral, Believing Animals, Christian Smith advances a creative theory of human persons and culture that offers innovative, challenging answers to these and other fundamental questions in sociological, cultural, and religious theory. Smith suggests that human beings have a peculiar set of capacities and proclivities that distinguishes them significantly from other animals on this planet. Despite the vast differences in humanity between cultures and across history, no matter how differently people narrate their lives and histories, there remains an underlying structure of human personhood that helps to order human culture, history, and narration. Drawing on important recent insights in moral philosophy, epistemology, and narrative studies, Smith argues that humans are animals who have an inescapable moral and spiritual dimension. They cannot avoid a fundamental moral orientation in life and this, says Smith, has profound consequences for how sociology must study human beings.

The Moral Lives of Animals

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1608193462
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis The Moral Lives of Animals by : Dale Peterson

Download or read book The Moral Lives of Animals written by Dale Peterson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-06-19 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the moral behavior observed in animals and argues that human beings are not the only species to live by the principles of cooperation, kindness, and empathy.

Souls in Transition

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Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0195371798
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Souls in Transition by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Souls in Transition written by Christian Smith and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2009-09-14 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on candid interviews with thousands of young people tracked over a five-year period, this book reveals how the religious practices of the teenagers portrayed in Soul Searching have been strengthened, challenged, and often changed as they have moved into adulthood.

What Is a Person?

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226765946
Total Pages : 529 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis What Is a Person? by : Christian Smith

Download or read book What Is a Person? written by Christian Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The task of understanding human beings, what we ourselves are, our constitution and condition, is a perennial problem in philosophy and related disciplines. Smith argues here that our understanding of human persons is threatened by technological development and capricious academic theories alike, seeking to deny or relativize the personhood of humanity. Smith's book puts a stake in the ground, in defense of a view of the human that is genuinely humanistic in the traditional sense and capable of sustaining with intellectual coherence things like modern human rights and universal benevolence.

American Evangelicalism

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022622922X
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis American Evangelicalism by : Christian Smith

Download or read book American Evangelicalism written by Christian Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An excellent study of evangelicalism” from the award-winning sociologist and author of Souls in Transition and Soul Searching (Library Journal). Evangelicalism is one of the strongest religious traditions in America today; twenty million Americans identify themselves with the evangelical movement. Given the modern pluralistic world we live in, why is evangelicalism so popular? Based on a national telephone survey and more than three hundred personal interviews with evangelicals and other churchgoing Protestants, this study provides a detailed analysis of the commitments, beliefs, concerns, and practices of this thriving group. Examining how evangelicals interact with and attempt to influence secular society, this book argues that traditional, orthodox evangelicalism endures not despite, but precisely because of, the challenges and structures of our modern pluralistic environment. This work also looks beyond evangelicalism to explore more broadly the problems of traditional religious belief and practice in the modern world. With its impressive empirical evidence, innovative theory, and substantive conclusions, American Evangelicalism will provoke lively debate over the state of religious practice in contemporary America. “Based on a three-year study of American evangelicals, Smith takes the pulse of contemporary evangelicalism and offers substantial evidence of a strong heartbeat . . . Evangelicalism is thriving, says Smith, not by being countercultural or by retreating into isolation but by engaging culture at the same time that it constructs, maintains and markets its subcultural identity. Although Smith depends heavily on sociological theory, he makes his case in an accessible and persuasive style that will appeal to a broad audience.” —Publishers Weekly

Ethics and the Beast

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400828139
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Ethics and the Beast by : Tzachi Zamir

Download or read book Ethics and the Beast written by Tzachi Zamir and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people think that animal liberation would require a fundamental transformation of basic beliefs. We would have to give up "speciesism" and start viewing animals as our equals, with rights and moral status. And we would have to apply these beliefs in an all-or-nothing way. But in Ethics and the Beast, Tzachi Zamir makes the radical argument that animal liberation doesn't require such radical arguments--and that liberation could be accomplished in a flexible and pragmatic way. By making a case for liberation that is based primarily on common moral intuitions and beliefs, and that therefore could attract wide understanding and support, Zamir attempts to change the terms of the liberation debate. Without defending it, Ethics and the Beast claims that speciesism is fully compatible with liberation. Even if we believe that we should favor humans when there is a pressing human need at stake, Zamir argues, that does not mean that we should allow marginal human interests to trump the life-or-death interests of animals. As minimalist as it sounds, this position generates a robust liberation program, including commitments not to eat animals, subject them to factory farming, or use them in medical research. Zamir also applies his arguments to some questions that tend to be overlooked in the liberation debate, such as whether using animals can be distinguished from exploiting them, whether liberationists should be moral vegetarians or vegans, and whether using animals for therapeutic purposes is morally blameless.

The Moral Landscape

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 143917122X
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis The Moral Landscape by : Sam Harris

Download or read book The Moral Landscape written by Sam Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sam Harris dismantles the most common justification for religious faith--that a moral system cannot be based on science.

Religion

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691191646
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Religion written by Christian Smith and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-26 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking new theory of religion Religion remains an important influence in the world today, yet the social sciences are still not adequately equipped to understand and explain it. This book advances an innovative theory of religion that goes beyond the problematic theoretical paradigms of the past. Drawing on the philosophy of critical realism and personalist social theory, Christian Smith explores why humans are religious in the first place—uniquely so as a species—and offers an account of secularization and religious innovation and persistence that breaks the logjam in which religious scholarship has been stuck for so long. Certain to stimulate debate and inspire promising new avenues of scholarship, Religion features a wealth of illustrations and examples that help to make its concepts accessible to readers. This superbly written book brings sound theoretical thinking to a perennially thorny subject, and a new vitality and focus to its study.

The Moral Animal

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Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307772748
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (77 download)

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Book Synopsis The Moral Animal by : Robert Wright

Download or read book The Moral Animal written by Robert Wright and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-11-03 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most provocative science books ever published—"a feast of great thinking and writing about the most profound issues there are" (The New York Times Book Review). "Fiercely intelligent, beautifully written and engrossingly original." —The New York Times Book Review Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animaled one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics—as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies. Illustrations.

Resisting Reagan

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226763331
Total Pages : 493 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis Resisting Reagan by : Christian Smith

Download or read book Resisting Reagan written by Christian Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive analysis of the U.S. Central America peace movement, Resisting Reagan explains why more than one hundred thousand U.S. citizens marched in the streets, illegally housed refugees, traveled to Central American war zones, committed civil disobedience, and hounded their political representatives to contest the Reagan administration's policy of sponsoring wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Focusing on the movement's three most important national campaigns—Witness for Peace, Sanctuary, and the Pledge of Resistance—this book demonstrates the centrality of morality as a political motivator, highlights the importance of political opportunities in movement outcomes, and examines the social structuring of insurgent consciousness. Based on extensive surveys, interviews, and research, Resisting Reagan makes significant contributions to our understanding of the formation of individual activist identities, of national movement dynamics, and of religious resources for political activism.

Animal Rights, Human Wrongs

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0742599388
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (425 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Rights, Human Wrongs by : Tom Regan

Download or read book Animal Rights, Human Wrongs written by Tom Regan and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2003-11-22 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regan provides the theoretical framework that grounds a responsible pro-animal rights perspective, and ultimately explores how asking moral questions about other animals can lead to a better understanding of ourselves.

Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

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Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 0199237271
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis Nature Red in Tooth and Claw by : Michael Murray

Download or read book Nature Red in Tooth and Claw written by Michael Murray and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2008-06-19 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Those who believe in God often puzzle over how God could permit evil and suffering in the world. Nature Red in Tooth and Claw focuses specifically on non-human animal suffering, and whether or not it raises problems for belief in the existence of a perfectly good creator.

Divided by Faith

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195147070
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis Divided by Faith by : Michael O. Emerson

Download or read book Divided by Faith written by Michael O. Emerson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a nationwide survey, the authors of this study conclude that US Evangelicals may actually be preserving the racial chasm, not through active racism, but because their theology hinders their ability to recognise systematic injustice.

Soul Searching : The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198039972
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Soul Searching : The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by : Christian Smith Dr William R Kenan Jr Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame

Download or read book Soul Searching : The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers written by Christian Smith Dr William R Kenan Jr Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In innumerable discussions and activities dedicated to better understanding and helping teenagers, one aspect of teenage life is curiously overlooked. Very few such efforts pay serious attention to the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents. But many teenagers are very involved in religion. Surveys reveal that 35% attend religious services weekly and another 15% attend at least monthly. 60% say that religious faith is important in their lives. 40% report that they pray daily. 25% say that they have been "born again." Teenagers feel good about the congregations they belong to. Some say that faith provides them with guidance and resources for knowing how to live well. What is going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? What do they actually believe? What religious practices do they engage in? Do they expect to remain loyal to the faith of their parents? Or are they abandoning traditional religious institutions in search of a new, more authentic "spirituality"? This book attempts to answer these and related questions as definitively as possible. It reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are "spiritual but not religious." And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. This eagerly-awaited volume not only provides an unprecedented understanding of adolescent religion and spirituality but, because teenagers serve as bellwethers for possible future trends, it affords an important and distinctive window through which to observe and assess the current state and future direction of American religion as a whole.

To Flourish or Destruct

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022623200X
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis To Flourish or Destruct by : Christian Smith

Download or read book To Flourish or Destruct written by Christian Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-03-23 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of what motivates humans and the activity that gives rise to human social life and social structures. In his 2010 book What Is a Person?, Christian Smith argued that sociology had for too long neglected this fundamental question. Prevailing social theories, he wrote, do not adequately “capture our deep subjective experience as persons, crucial dimensions of the richness of our own lived lives, what thinkers in previous ages might have called our ‘souls’ or ‘hearts.’” Building on Smith’s previous work, To Flourish or Destruct examines the motivations intrinsic to this subjective experience: Why do people do what they do? How can we explain the activity that gives rise to all human social life and social structures? Smith argues that our actions stem from a motivation to realize what he calls natural human goods: ends that are, by nature, constitutionally good for all human beings. He goes on to explore the ways we can and do fail to realize these ends—a failure that can result in varying gradations of evil. Rooted in critical realism and informed by work in philosophy, psychology, and other fields, Smith’s ambitious book situates the idea of personhood at the center of our attempts to understand how we might shape good human lives and societies. Praise for To Flourish or Destruct “This major work in sociology theory should be read by social scientists in all disciplines. Highly recommended.” —Choice “To Flourish or Destruct poses a powerful and important challenge to the entire discipline of sociology. Smith is becoming the anchor of a humanist renewal in sociology and although he is not alone in this movement, what makes To Flourish or Destruct different is a coherent, new, oppositional perspective that draws on critical realism to affirm both human personhood and the ever-present moral element in human affairs. Smith’s Personalism could become the banner around which a very different kind of sociology develops, one that respects the centered consciousness that is human personhood.” —Douglas Porpora, Drexel University “This book represents a major advance in sociology and more specifically within critical realism, which is gradually emerging as a full-fledged alternative in the social sciences. I am fundamentally convinced by this book.” —George Steinmetz, University of Michigan