Imperfect Garden: The Legacy of Humanism
by Tzvetan Todorov, Carol Cosman (Translator)
Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691010471; (May 1, 2002)
From the review at Amazon.com:
"For Todorov, as with the best of the humanists, life in the world is a garden that needs our tending. And though by its nature it is imperfect, at times bearing rotten and sour fruit, it can always be improved with our care, diligence, and love. Ultimately, Todorov proposes that humanism is a wager, à la Pascal: we will be no worse off for striving to mend the human condition, but we risk everything if we don't. --Eric de Place"
More information, or order the book at Amazon.com
Escape from Evil
by Ernest Becker
With Denial of Death, a humanistic approach to explaining the evil that people do in this world. Becker takes what he finds as the essential fact of human existence that distinguishes us from the rest of the animals -- imagination -- plus the fact that we are animals, who need to eat and who will die as part of the cycle of life -- and shows how the need to imagine that we won't die has been the source of patriarchy, nationalistic jingoism, and the destructive power of modern war.
details from Amazon.com -- or buy the book
The Denial of Death
by Ernest Becker
Denial of death -- trying to transcend our deaths through a new tribalism, through nationalism, through ideologies that don't promote real living -- is a source of human-created evil.
This and Becker's Escape from Evil are two of the most influential books on my thinking: how is it that human beings have created a world in which we now have the potential to blow everyone to pieces? Answering that question will help lead to answers that might pull us back from that collective brink.
details from Amazon.com -- or buy the book
Gould's essays are on science, including evolution and paleontology -- but they're also about the human condition. Whether he's talking about how nature develops complex structures, the differences between science and religion, the human tendency to misinterpret science and statistics, or how scientific knowledge develops, I find his writing inspirational and interesting. His voice will be missed.
A list of recommended books by Stephen Jay Gould:
I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History - 2002
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory - 2002
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