Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Humanity Against Itself PDF full book. Access full book title Humanity Against Itself by Benjamin Kovitz, M.D.. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Benjamin Kovitz, M.D. Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1615921982 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 167
Book Description
In this broad overview of humanity's predicament, psychiatrist Benjamin Kovitz illustrates the parallels between anxiety in the individual and discord in civilization as a whole. Kovitz emphasizes that civilization rests upon the precarious foundation of human nature, with its age-old tendencies toward self-deception, violence, and pursuit of power. He argues that resistance to facing our hidden motives is what lies at the core of political and religious strife as well as individual anxiety. At the heart of the book is an illuminating chapter on the meaning of anxiety, explaining with clarity and detail how the pathology arises, how it is expressed, and how it can be relieved. The complexities of the condition are portrayed in vivid clinical examples, often using the patients' own words. Kovitz takes issue with the current practice of relying solely on psychiatric medication without addressing the patient's understanding of what his or her symptoms mean. On the societal level, Kovitz shows how evasion of reality complicates our efforts at progress and peaceful coexistence, despite the advances of science and democracy, and how defensive behavior among nations can culminate in war. Turning to religion, Kovitz explores the psychological underpinnings of our need for religion and briefly summarizes the major world faiths with an eye to their underlying attitudes and assumptions. While pointing out the contradictions inherent in a literal approach to religious dogma, the author appreciates the need for faith that transcends logic. In a psychiatric evaluation of the life of Saint Teresa of Avila, Kovitz recognizes pathological anxiety yet respects the therapeutic value of her religious visions. Writing with eloquence while avoiding psychological jargon, Kovitz elucidates our human dilemmas with a clarity and depth that can help us move toward sanity in an unpredictable and troubled world.
Author: Benjamin Kovitz, M.D. Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1615921982 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 167
Book Description
In this broad overview of humanity's predicament, psychiatrist Benjamin Kovitz illustrates the parallels between anxiety in the individual and discord in civilization as a whole. Kovitz emphasizes that civilization rests upon the precarious foundation of human nature, with its age-old tendencies toward self-deception, violence, and pursuit of power. He argues that resistance to facing our hidden motives is what lies at the core of political and religious strife as well as individual anxiety. At the heart of the book is an illuminating chapter on the meaning of anxiety, explaining with clarity and detail how the pathology arises, how it is expressed, and how it can be relieved. The complexities of the condition are portrayed in vivid clinical examples, often using the patients' own words. Kovitz takes issue with the current practice of relying solely on psychiatric medication without addressing the patient's understanding of what his or her symptoms mean. On the societal level, Kovitz shows how evasion of reality complicates our efforts at progress and peaceful coexistence, despite the advances of science and democracy, and how defensive behavior among nations can culminate in war. Turning to religion, Kovitz explores the psychological underpinnings of our need for religion and briefly summarizes the major world faiths with an eye to their underlying attitudes and assumptions. While pointing out the contradictions inherent in a literal approach to religious dogma, the author appreciates the need for faith that transcends logic. In a psychiatric evaluation of the life of Saint Teresa of Avila, Kovitz recognizes pathological anxiety yet respects the therapeutic value of her religious visions. Writing with eloquence while avoiding psychological jargon, Kovitz elucidates our human dilemmas with a clarity and depth that can help us move toward sanity in an unpredictable and troubled world.
Author: Yuval Noah Harari Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 0062464353 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.
Author: Robert Greene Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0698184548 Category : Self-Help Languages : en Pages : 626
Book Description
From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power comes the definitive new book on decoding the behavior of the people around you Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.
Author: Meghan O'Gieblyn Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0525562710 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
A strikingly original exploration of what it might mean to be authentically human in the age of artificial intelligence, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Interior States. • "At times personal, at times philosophical, with a bracing mixture of openness and skepticism, it speaks thoughtfully and articulately to the most crucial issues awaiting our future." —Phillip Lopate “[A] truly fantastic book.”—Ezra Klein For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, the very nature and purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking. Meghan O'Gieblyn tackles this challenge with philosophical rigor, intellectual reach, essayistic verve, refreshing originality, and an ironic sense of contradiction. She draws deeply and sometimes humorously from her own personal experience as a formerly religious believer still haunted by questions of faith, and she serves as the best possible guide to navigating the territory we are all entering.
Author: Donald Harman Akenson Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP ISBN: 0773575677 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 360
Book Description
"One of the central arguments presented in Some Family is that there are four basic genealogical forms. The supporting evidence runs from the Solomon Islands to classical China to ancient Ireland. Highly significant on its own, this evidence also provides the information needed to assess the Latter-day Saints' effort to provide a single narrative on how humanity keeps track of itself." --Résumé de l'éditeur.
Author: Bill McKibben Publisher: Henry Holt and Company ISBN: 1250178274 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 272
Book Description
Thirty years ago Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about climate change. Now he broadens the warning: the entire human game, he suggests, has begun to play itself out. Bill McKibben’s groundbreaking book The End of Nature -- issued in dozens of languages and long regarded as a classic -- was the first book to alert us to global warming. But the danger is broader than that: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization can exist, new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to bleach away the variety of human experience. Falter tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on McKibben’s experience in building 350.org, the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, it offers some possible ways out of the trap. We’re at a bleak moment in human history -- and we’ll either confront that bleakness or watch the civilization our forebears built slip away. Falter is a powerful and sobering call to arms, to save not only our planet but also our humanity.
Author: George P. Fletcher Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand ISBN: 0195183088 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 285
Book Description
Recoge: Murder among nations -- How to talk about self-defense -- A theory of legitimate defense -- The six elements of legitimate defense -- Excusing international aggression -- Humanitarian intervention -- Preemptive and preventitive wars -- The collective dimension of war.
Author: Dan Wells Publisher: Balzer + Bray ISBN: 9780062071088 Category : Young Adult Fiction Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Author Dan Wells is back with the sequel to the sci-fi blockbuster Partials, which Pittacus Lore called a "thrilling sci-fi adrenaline rush, with one of the most compelling and frightening visions of Earth's future I've seen yet." After discovering the cure for RM, Kira Walker sets off on a terrifying journey into the ruins of postapocalyptic America and the darkest desires of her heart in order to uncover the means—and a reason—for humanity's survival. Dan Wells extends his richly imagined, gritty world and introduces new memorable characters in this second installment in the Partials Sequence.
Author: Karl A. Menninger Publisher: READ BOOKS ISBN: 9781406732955 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 496
Book Description
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Author: Charles Eisenstein Publisher: North Atlantic Books ISBN: 1583946365 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 577
Book Description
The author of The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self Our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse. Fortunately, an Age of Reunion is emerging out of the birth pangs of an earth in crisis. Our journey of separation hasn't been a terrible mistake but an evolutionary process and an adventure in self-discovery. Even in our darkest hour, Eisenstein sees the possibility of a more beautiful world—not through the extension of millennia-old methods of management and control but by fundamentally reimagining ourselves and our systems. We must shift away from our Babelian efforts to build ever-higher towers to heaven and instead turn out attention to creating a new kind of civilization—one designed for beauty rather than height.
Author: Benjamin Kovitz, M.D.
Author: Benjamin Kovitz, M.D.
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Author: Robert Greene
Author: Meghan O'Gieblyn
Author: Donald Harman Akenson
Author: Bill McKibben
Author: George P. Fletcher
Author: Dan Wells
Author: Karl A. Menninger
Author: Charles Eisenstein