Books like The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris

Rebecca Goldstein explores the human side of Baruch Spinoza, revealing how his excommunication in 1656 shaped his groundbreaking philosophy and the clash between Jewish tradition and secular thought.

Michael Shermer traces how scientific thinking—from Galileo to Martin Luther King Jr.—reshaped politics, economics, and moral philosophy, showing that empirical reasoning today nudges society toward a kinder, more just world.

In this foundational work, Adam Smith explains his theory of moral sentiments, arguing that human conduct is guided by an impartial spectator and that sympathy, not just self‑interest, binds society together.

In James Blish’s Hugo‑winning 1959 science‑fiction novel, a Jesuit priest visits the morally perfect planet Lithia and must confront whether a divinely ordained society can exist without sin or God.

Joshua David Greene explains how our brains, wired for tribal cooperation and conflict, shape modern moral divisions and offers a neuroscience-based path to understanding and bridging these divides.

What if religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? The long-running and often boring debate between believers and non-believers is finally moved forward by Alain de Botton's inspiring book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are entirely false--but that it still has some very important things to teach the secular world. Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from it--because the world's religions are packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. Blending deep respect with total impiety, de Botton (a non-believer himself) proposes that we look to religion for insights into how to, among other concerns, build a sense of community, make our relationships last, overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy, inspire travel and reconnect with the natural world.--From publisher description.

Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments explores long-standing ethical and moral issues in light of our most urgent dilemmas. Divided into twelve sections, the book opens with a series of broad arguments on existence, human nature and morality. Indeed, "big" questions of the human condition are explored by some of our best-known and most accomplished living philosophers: What is the meaning of our existence? Should we really "do what we love"? How should we respond to evil? Is pure altruism possible?

A collection of Craig Lucas’s provocative American plays, including two full-length works—God’s Heart and The Dying Gaul—and nine intimate one‑acts that explore human truth and moral complexity.

x, 260 pages : 24 cm

"Now back in print with a new foreword by J. I. Packer, this classic study clearly shows the organic unity and continuity of the biblical ethic. Murray addresses ethical questions relating to such topics as marriage, labor, capital punishment, truthfulness, Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, law and grace, and the fear of God. Though the Ten Commandments furnish the core of the biblical ethic, Murray points the reader again and again to all of Scripture as the basic authority in matters of Christian conduct."--Http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle, writing over two thousand years before Wall Street, called people who engaged in activities which did not contribute to society "parasites." In his latest work, renowned scholar Robert C. Solomon asserts that though capitalism may require capital, but it does not require, much less should it be defined by the parasites it inevitably attracts. Capitalism has succeeded not with brute strength or because it has made people rich, but because it has produced responsible citizens and--however unevenly--prosperous communities. It cannot tolerate a conception of business that focuses solely on income and vulgarity while ignoring traditional virtues of responsibility, community, and integrity. Many feel that there is too much lip-service and not enough understanding of the importance of cooperation and integrity in corporate life. This book rejects the myths and metaphors of war-like competition that cloud business thinking and develops an "Aristotelean" theory of business. The author's approach emphasizes several core concepts: the corporation as community, the search for excellence, the importance of integrity and sound judgment, as well as a more cooperative and humane vision of business. Solomon stresses the virtues of honesty, trust, fairness, and compassion in the competitive business world, and confronts the problem of "moral mazes" and what he posits as its solution--moral courage.

Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics explores contemporary moral dilemmas—from consumer choices and animal welfare to climate change, abortion, and political violence—challenging readers to consider how they ought to live.

A scholarly examination of the moral foundations and cultural differences between left and right political perspectives in the United States.