A provocative book for readers willing to engage.
A professor of philosophy reflects on whether or not humanity should continue to exist.
The early 21st century has been defined by manmade global crises—ecological, political, and economic—that show few signs of abating. In the face of so much suffering and devastation, May, author of A Decent Life, A Fragile Life, and other books of philosophy, dares to ask a disturbing question: Would the end of humanity be a good thing for the planet? He searches for answers in moral philosophy. Some thinkers, including anti-natalist David Benatar, believe that the inevitability of death and suffering cancels out the pleasures of existence, a position against which May argues: “Most humans have lives with more happiness than suffering.” More optimistic philosophers like Sarah Buss believe that though not inherently good, human beings still bring value to the world through the sentience that allows them to appreciate things like art "that are good in themselves.” In other words, “human beings are valuable, but our value is only instrumental.” The stubborn facts remain that happiness is not equitably distributed and that humans, despite their ability to engage with and create the higher goods of “beauty [and] truth,” have ravaged the Earth, caused the suffering of other living things—especially the farm animals that sustain them—and created social inequalities that have brought misery to other humans. May posits that population reduction would help the planet and balance the moral scales, as would ending deforestation of rainforests and putting an end to factory farming. Otherwise, “the world might be better off without us,” no matter how brilliant the cultures we bring into existence. Thoughtful and accessible, May’s book will appeal to anyone seeking ethical insights into the nature and impact of human life in the modern world.
A provocative book for readers willing to engage.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798720
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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