Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to A More Meaningful Life 1st Edition by Massimo Pigliucci (PDF)

Description

How should we live? According to philosopher and biologist Massimo Pigliucci, the greatest guidance to this essential question lies in combining the wisdom of 24 centuries of philosophy with the latest research from 21st century science.In Answers for Aristotle, Pigliucci argues that the combination of science and philosophy first pioneered by Aristotle offers us the best possible tool for understanding the world and ourselves. As Aristotle knew, each mode of thought has the power to clarify the other: science provides facts, and philosophy helps us reflect on the values with which to assess them. But over the centuries, the two have become uncoupled, leaving us with questions — about morality, love, friendship, justice, and politics — that neither field could fully answer on its own. Pigliucci argues that only by rejoining each other can modern science and philosophy reach their full potential, while we harness them to help us reach ours.Pigliucci discusses such essential issues as how to tell right from wrong, the nature of love and friendship, and whether we can really ever know ourselves — all in service of helping us find our path to the best possible life. Combining the two most powerful intellectual traditions in history, Answers for Aristotle is a remarkable guide to discovering what really matters and why.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐”This book is about what philosophy and science together can tell us concerning the big questions in life, and if we want to understand these questions in a new light we also need to look under the hood, so to speak. We will employ not only the logical scalpel of philosophy to parse what people mean by the different ideas that guide their lives but also the microscope of science to try to figure out how and why people behave in certain ways.” … “The basic idea is that there are some things that ought to matter, whatever problem we experience in life: the facts that are pertinent to said problem; the values that guide us as we evaluate those facts; the nature of the problem itself; any possible solutions to it; and the meaningfulness to us of those facts and values and their relevance to the quality of our life. Since science is uniquely well suited to deal with factual knowledge and philosophy deals with (among other things) values, sci-phi [shorthand for science-philosophy] seems like a promising way to approach the perennial questions concerning how we construct the meaning of our existence.”I hope these two quotes cover the gist of Professor Pigliucci’s book. That said, this book has one major advantage, which also leads to its biggest disadvantage I believe – breadth of subject matter. Pigliucci has run through and tackled some of the biggest topics of interest to both professional philosophers as well as specialized scientists. He discusses a little bit of everything: evolution, morality, religion, decision-making, politics, free will, nature versus nurture, love, and friendship. He both introduces the reader to the issue and then encapsulates the puzzles which academics struggle with out in the field. I enjoyed reading what Pigliucci had to say regarding the different subjects. The tone of the book is light and friendly, there are copious amounts of cited research, and I found myself tending to agree with nearly everything Professor Pigliucci had to say. On the other hand however, I was hoping for a little more detail and little more gusto. I felt a tad disappointed with the overarching upshot of the book. That just might be me though. All in all I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to someone at say the high school level of education. Given the breezy nature of Pigliucci’s book I would recommend any of the following books as great places to begin follow up reading, if your interest is peaked:

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⭐I had high hopes for this work. I ended with mixed feelings. Pugliucci tries to demonstrate how philosophy and science can be (should be) complimentary in our efforts to live a good life, a worthy endeavor. And an endeavor of great interest to me since the title of his work suggested that he would lean heavily on Aristotle for the philosophical side. Aristotle is somewhat represented. But, that great Greek shows up much less than one would reasonably expect from the title.In general, the work is well-written. In fact it’s quite conversational and that makes my disappointment all the greater. If only this was really about modern science and Aristotle.The discussions of science’s contributions to philosophical thought, mostly neuroscience and cognitive science, were interesting and somewhat helpful in illuminating some philosophical issues. But, Pugluicci really only presents a buffet of hors d’oeuvres about what’s going on in science that may or may not be useful to philosophers thinking about ethics, politics, epistemology, et cetera. I appreciated Pigluicci’s debunking of Sam Harris’ hubristic attempts to turn philosophy into neuroscience. You got a bravo from me there Massimo! Likewise, with proper deference to Richard Dawkins, Pigliucci neatly tosses the bogus study of “memetics” into the trash can.However, I lost it when I got to his chapter on justice. It is merely a watered down version of John Rawls’ “Justice as Fairness” (2005) and barely rises to the level of a good undergraduate lecture. It is surprising that Pugluicci published this book in 2012 and yet presents Rawls with no acknowledgment of many criticisms (actually defects) in his political theory and the fact that “Justice as Fairness” is a follow on to “Political Liberalism” (1993), both of which were, in my opinion, unsuccessful attempts to respond to the heavy negative criticism of Rawls’ original work, “Theory of Justice” (1971). Read Michael Sandel’s “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice”(1982). It’s the best of many criticisms of Rawls. Sandel, in my mind, demolishes Rawls. I’m surprised Pugluicci ignores all this. Considering the title of the book, one might expect, as an alternative to Rawls, at least a brief sojourn into Aristotle’s Politics at this point. Sadly no. All in all, a good start.

⭐This is one of my favorite books! I bought it when it first came out and have re-read it several times since. It’s full of practical advice, interesting philosophical concepts, and relevant scientific studies. I think it’s intended to be a self help book for people who hate self help books and it never gets preachy or heavy handed. Whenever I get in a conversation with someone about philosophical concepts like morality, epistemology, or free will this is the first thing I grab off my shelf to quickly brush up on the topic. It presents empirical facts from science that are relevant to philosophical reflection on human values. While it doesn’t go in depth on any given area, the range of topics is very impressive and each section makes the most out of the brief space allotted with every sentence adding substantially to the chapter. The number of passages I have underlined in my copy is almost comical, but there’s a lot of great stuff here. There is no fluff or filler in this book. It’s a very nice blend of philosophy and science with the aim to aid each reader in their own quest for meaning and purpose. Every time I read it I get more out of it. I can’t recommend this book highly enough!

⭐I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. An important lesson can be learnt by those of us who thought that philosophy should be put aside in the modern age. The author makes a good case that science, although useful and necessary to understand the world we live in by providing provisional conclusions, is not sufficient to live meaningful life and sometimes can even have a word in scientific matters. In contrast Pigliucci believes that science and philosophy can unite their forces a create something he calls sci-phi in delivering fundamental answers to issues ranging from ethics and politics to the more general art of living. If you want to know how, then you should read this book! The style of the book informal and approachable making it easy to digest the slightly more difficult topics.

⭐The sci-phi aspect of this book is absolutely amazing. To identify the link between science and philosophy and how they intertwine with such ease, is an astounding accomplishment. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book which has lead me into an interest in ethics.

⭐Amazing read and very stimulating!

⭐Good book. Enjoyed the read. Recommended

⭐A good book if you are studying philosophy, so I am assured by my grand daughter, the recipient. Beautifully presented.Quick delivery.

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