On human nature

By Scruton, Roger

Publishing Date: [2017]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 128 SCR

In this short book, acclaimed writer and philosopher Roger Scruton presents an original and radical defense of human uniqueness. Confronting the views of evolutionary psychologists, utilitarian moralists, and philosophical materialists such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, Scruton argues that human beings cannot be understood simply as biological objects. We are not only human animals; we are also persons, in essential relation with other persons, and bound to them by obligations and rights. Our world is a shared world, exhibiting freedom, value, and accountability, and to understand it we must address other people face to face and I to I. Scruton develops and defends his account of human nature by ranging widely across intellectual history, from Plato and Averroes to Darwin and Wittgenstein. The book begins with Kant's suggestion that we are distinguished by our ability to say "I"--by our sense of ourselves as the centers of self-conscious reflection. This fact is manifested in our emotions, interests, and relations. It is the foundation of the moral sense, as well as of the aesthetic and religious conceptions through which we shape the human world and endow it with meaning. And it lies outside the scope of modern materialist philosophy, even though it is a natural and not a supernatural fact. Ultimately, Scruton offers a new way of understanding how self-consciousness affects the question of how we should live. The result is a rich view of human nature that challenges some of today's most fashionable ideas about our species.

Stillness is the key

By Holiday, Ryan

Publishing Date: [2019]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 128.4 HOL

The author draws on great thinkers like Confucius, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Christian monks to show us what stillness is and how it might be achieved. He believes stillness is the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus. He examines many of the figures that exemplify the power of stillness, including Winston Churchill, Fred Rogers and Anne Frank. This book aims to equip you with everything you need to find stillness in your own life.

Would you kill the fat man: the trolley problem and what your answer tells us about right and wrong

By Edmonds, David

Publishing Date: c2014

Classification: 100

Call Number: 150 EDM

In this book, David Edmonds, coauthor of the best-selling Wittgenstein's Poker, tells the riveting story of why and how philosophers have struggled with the ethical dilemma posed by the trolley problem. In the process, he provides an entertaining and informative tour through the history of moral philosophy.

Your left-handed child: making things easy for left-handers in a right-handed world

By Milsom, Lauren

Publishing Date: 2014

Classification: 100

Call Number: 152.3 MIL

Offers strategies to help parents support their left-handed children and help them master simple tasks such as handwriting, handling kitchen utensils, and playing guitar.

The WEIRDest people in the world: how the West became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous

By Henrich, Joseph Patrick

Publishing Date: 2020

Classification: 100

Call Number: 153 HEN

"Harvard University's Joseph Henrich, Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, delivers a bold, epic investigation into the development of the Western mind, global psychological diversity, and its impact on the world"--

Happier at home: kiss more, jump more, abandon a project, read Samuel Johnson, and my other experiments in the practice of everyday life

By Rubin, Gretchen

Publishing Date: c2012

Classification: 100

Call Number: 158 RUB

In the spirit of her blockbuster #1 "New York Times" bestseller "The Happiness Project, " Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place--and goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood.

After virtue: a study in moral theory

By MacIntyre, Alasdair C

Publishing Date: 2007

Classification: 100

Call Number: 170.42 MAC

"When After Virtue first appeared in 1981, it was recognized as a significant and potentially controversial critique of contemporary moral philosophy. Newsweek called it "a stunning new study of ethics by one of the foremost moral philosophers in the English-speaking world." Now, twenty-five years later, the University of Notre Dame Press is pleased to release the third edition of After Virtue, which includes a new prologue "After Virtue after a Quarter of a Century."" "In this classic work, Alasdair MacIntyre examines the historical and conceptual roots of the idea of virtue, diagnoses the reasons for its absence in personal and public life, and offers a tentative proposal for its recovery. While the individual chapters are wide-ranging, once pieced together they comprise a penetrating and focused argument about the price of modernity." --

Lying

By Harris, Sam

Publishing Date: [2013]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 177.3 HAR

"Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption--even murder and genocide--generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In [this book] ... Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie"--Dust jacket flap.

Fallen leaves: last words on life, love, war, and God

By Durant, Will

Publishing Date: 2014

Classification: 100

Call Number: 191 DUR

"The final and most personal work from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Will Durant--discovered thirty-two years after his death--is a message of insight for everyone who has sought meaning in life or the council of a wise friend in navigating life's journey ... [containing] twenty-two short chapters on everything from youth and old age, religion and morals, to sex, war, politics, and art"--Amazon.com.