The Moral Landscape

How Science Can Determine Human Values

By: Sam Harris

Narrated by: Sam Harris

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Sam Harris’s first book, The End of Faith, ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath, Harris discovered that most people—from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists—agree on one point: science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, our failure to address questions of meaning and morality through science has now become the most common justification for religious faith. It is also the primary reason why so many secularists and religious moderates feel obligated to "respect" the hardened superstitions of their more devout neighbors.

In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape". Because there are definite facts to be known about where we fall on this landscape, Harris foresees a time when science will no longer limit itself to merely describing what people do in the name of "morality"; in principle, science should be able to tell us what we ought to do to live the best lives possible.

Bringing a fresh perspective to age-old questions of right and wrong and good and evil, Harris demonstrates that we already know enough about the human brain and its relationship to events in the world to say that there are right and wrong answers to the most pressing questions of human life. Because such answers exist, moral relativism is simply false—and comes at increasing cost to humanity. And the intrusions of religion into the sphere of human values can be finally repelled: for just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra, there can be no Christian or Muslim morality.

©2010 Sam Harris (P)2010 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Sam Harris breathes intellectual fire into an ancient debate. Reading this thrilling, audacious book, you feel the ground shifting beneath your feet. Reason has never had a more passionate advocate.” (Ian McEwan)

“A lively, provocative, and timely new look at one of the deepest problems in the world of ideas. Harris makes a powerful case for a morality that is based on human flourishing and thoroughly enmeshed with science and rationality. It is a tremendously appealing vision, and one that no thinking person can afford to ignore.” (Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate)

Deeply Insightful

Every Sam Harris book I read helps me think about the world in some new and unique way.

A wonderful book, but dense for this platform

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and its content. The author's thesis is incredibly important to todays society. I did however find the book a little dense for the audiobook platform. This book requires your full atention at all times. If you're like me and engage in activities (ie. working or cleaning) while listening then this book might be difficult to get theough. There were numerous instances where i had to rewind because i was focused on something else and had become lost to what was happening in the book.

I would reccomend purchasing a copy of this book and reading it over the audio version due to the overall attention required to synthesize all the data presented.

A masterpiece of reason and clear thinking.

A masterpiece of reason and clear thinking. I regret not reading this earlier and hope Sam Harris continues to produce works like this for a long, long time to come. I'd like to think if college students could read and discuss this book the world would make great progress, in many fields.

Thinker's Book

If open minded, rational and inquiring, you will find this book exceptional. It is an added bonus that the book is read by the author.

A new way to look at religion's claim on morality

Very thoughtful book, with very compelling ideas presented in calm but strong crystalline prose.

I wish others wrote as clearly or tackled hard ideas so well.

This is a most utilitarian response to the sometime-mean-spririted atheism of other essays. The gist is that we need to foster and embrace a scientific approach to morality and values.

Great book in principle, not so great in practice

If you could sum up The Moral Landscape in three words, what would they be?

Sam Harris has a great point and I totally agree with the principle that science should provide guidance to moral values. I also agree that religion does much to deprive humanity of good moral values and science development.

The book offers a great concept but falls short on providing substance to its arguments. I had high expectations given the reviews here, when they even compared this work with the work of Kant, Descartes or Rousseau. It is definitely no such kind of work. Most of the examples are extremes and not the usual case. Sadists and people that take advantage of others will be present in any culture, even one driven by science and knowledge.

The book is too focused in the USA and too much time is spent criticizing the current Obama administration team. Also, I was very disappointed in the author for the failure to realize that the war against terrorism is a resource dispute, like any other war in history, and that Islamic radicalism is a tool for manipulating poor people into fighting *back* the many western invasions (direct or indirect) in the middle east for the control of the oil production.

I believe the author should embrace a social experience trip and go live 6 months in Europe, China and Afghanistan, each. It will provide different perspectives and better arguments for the ideal of a humanity that does not recur to mysticism and instead uses science to explore the world and define our moral codes.

I'm afraid that liberating itself from religion is outside of the capabilities of homo sapiens. It could possibly come with the next species we possibly genetically engineer it ourselves in the next centuries.

Overall, the book was disappointing but sill an interesting read. I hope someone else with more cultural background does a better job of exploring these ideas. They are great indeed.

Original

A seminal work, Sam Harris includes many original insights and weaves a tight argument that universal morality exists and science is not only an endeavor to uncover what is, but what ought to be.

Shockingly Excellent

Would you consider the audio edition of The Moral Landscape to be better than the print version?

Not necessarily. You need to stop and think a lot, go slow sometimes, sometimes flip back and review, look at the topic headings sometimes - all harder to do in audio than print

What did you like best about this story?

So clear, so well thought out, well supported with research and pertinent anecdotal material

What aspect of Sam Harris’s performance would you have changed?

Too much like a read speech, monotone, with little humor and less emotion, both of which would have helped - would help any non-fiction narrative. Might have been better with a professional reader - although I did like feeling the presence of the author

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The assertion that most scientists since Gould have given up the idea that morality could be a legitimate area for science

Any additional comments?

I am absolutely delighted with this book. I had no expectation it would affect me so profoundly, how much I would treasure the clarity and depth of the thinking. I find myself clapping my hands, and shouting YES! unexpectedly as I listen. I could not be more happy with this acquisition. Makes me want to hear more from Sam Harris.

A must read for everyone

Sam Harris makes a strong case for ending the appearant collective blindness regarding morality and cultural practices (such as female genital mutilation).
One can only hope that anthropologists and others in the social studies read this book.
My only concern is that the book shows a lot of examples of what should constitute moral valleys and not enough examples of moral peaks and how to progress from the first to the second.
Nevertheless this would need a lot more research and should be a separate book.
10/10

thoroughly enlightening

a well proportioned, thought out and thoroughly defended thesis and viewpoint. thanks to the author.