Sam harris author biography

While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with MDMA. Inafter eleven years overseas, Harris returned to Stanford, completing a B. He received a Ph. His advisor was Mark S. Harris's writing concerns philosophyneuroscienceand criticism of religion.

He came to prominence for his criticism of religion Islam in particular and he is described as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheismalong with Richard DawkinsChristopher Hitchensand Daniel Dennett. Episodes vary in length but often last over two hours. The podcast focuses on a wide array of topics related to science and spirituality, including philosophy, religion, morality, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics and artificial intelligence.

Harris has interviewed a wide range of guests, including scientists, philosophers, spiritual teachers, and authors. Harris is generally a critic of religion, and is considered a leading figure in the New Atheist movement. Harris is particularly opposed to what he refers to as dogmatic belief, and says that "Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a betrayal of science — and yet it is the lifeblood of religion.

In September Harris debated Robert Wright on the rationality of religious belief. Harris is also critical of the Christian sam harris author biography in politics in the United States, blaming them for the political focus on "pseudo-problems like gay marriage". He further states that in so doing liberal Christianity provides rhetorical cover to fundamentalists.

Harris emphasizes that all religions are not the same and that if any religion can be considered a "religion of peace", it is not Islam, but rather Jainism[ 40 ] [ 39 ] [ 42 ] which emerged in India around the same time as Buddhism, and has non-violence as its core doctrine. Harris has often noted some positive aspects of Buddhist thought, especially in relation to meditation, such as Buddhism 's emphasis that one's behavior and intentions impact the mind, and in order to achieve happiness, one needs to strive towards "overcoming fear and hatred" while "maximizing love and compassion".

Harris holds that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have", [ 21 ] saying: [ SH 5 ]. Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence.

The rest is self-deception, set to music. Harris rejects the dichotomy between spirituality and rationalityfavoring a middle path that preserves spirituality and science but does not involve religion. When you learn how to meditate, you recognize that there is another possibility, which is to be vividly aware of your experience in each moment in a way that frees you from routine misery.

Harris considers that the well-being of conscious creatures forms the basis of morality. In The Moral Landscapehe argues that science can in principle answer moral questions and help maximize well-being. Harris rejects the moral authority of religion, and points to what he sees as failures or misplaced priorities, for example saying that "The Catholic Church is more concerned about preventing contraception than preventing child rape".

Harris also criticizes cultural and moral relativismarguing that it prevents people from making objective moral judgments about practices that clearly harm human well-being, such as female genital mutilation. Harris contends that we can make scientifically based claims about the negative impacts of such practices on human welfare, and that withholding judgment in these cases is tantamount to claiming complete ignorance about what contributes to human well-being.

Harris says that the idea of free will "cannot be mapped on to any conceivable reality" and is incoherent. Philosopher Daniel Dennett argued that Harris's book Free Will successfully refuted the common understanding of free will, but that he failed to respond adequately to the compatibilist understanding of free will. Dennett said the book was valuable because it expressed the views of many eminent scientists, but that it nonetheless contained a "veritable museum of mistakes" and that "Harris and others need to do their homework if they want to engage with the best thought on the topic.

Harris is particularly concerned with existential risks from artificial general intelligencea topic he has discussed in depth in several episodes of his podcast. Harris describes himself as a liberal, even though he criticizes some aspects of both right and left. He is a registered Democrat [ 66 ] and has never voted Republican in presidential elections.

Harris frequently criticized George W. Bush over his support for intelligent design and his coziness with Christianity. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times inHarris said that he supported most of the criticism against the Bush administration 's war in Iraqand all criticism of fiscal policy and the administration's treatment of science. Harris also said that liberalism has grown "dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" regarding threats posed by Islamic fundamentalism.

Harris opposes religious claims to Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Nonetheless, Harris has said that due to the hostility towards Jews, if there is one religious group which needs sams harris author biography in the form of a state, it is Jews and the state of Israel. Harris has criticized both Israel and Palestine for committing war crimes in the Israeli—Palestinian conflict.

He said in that he believes Israel genuinely wants peace and that its neighbors are more devoted to the destruction of Israel. Harris has also said that Palestine is more guilty, citing Hamas ' use of human shields and genocidal rhetoric towards the Jews. During the Israel—Hamas war that began in OctoberHarris expressed support for Israel and rejected arguments that Israel provoked Hamas by building Israeli settlements in the West Bank, arguing that Gaza had not been occupied since He also condemned the Hamas attack on Israelwhich led to the war.

Harris supports raising taxes on the wealthy and reducing government spending, and has criticized billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for paying relatively little in tax. He has accused conservatives of perceiving raising taxes as a form of theft or punishment, and of believing that by being rich they create value for others.

In fact, as our recent financial crisis has shown, it is possible for a few people to become extraordinarily sam harris author biography by wrecking the global economy". Harris owns guns and wrote in that he understood people's hostility towards gun culture in the United States and the political influence of the National Rifle Association of America.

However, he argued that there is a rational case for gun ownership due to the fact that the police cannot always be relied on and that guns are a good alternative. Harris has stated that he disagrees with proposals by liberals and gun control advocates for restricting guns, such as the assault weapons bansince more gun crimes are committed with handguns than the semi-automatic weapons which the ban would target.

Harris has also said that the left-wing media gets many things wrong about guns. He has, however, offered support for certain regulations on gun ownership, such as mandatory training, licensure, and background checks before a gun can be legally purchased. Harris accused these commentators of believing that COVID policies were a way of implementing social control and to crackdown on people's freedom politically.

Harris has been described, alongside others such as Joe RoganBret Weinsteinand Jordan Petersonas a member of the intellectual dark weba group that opposes political correctness and identity politics. In NovemberHarris stated that he does not identify as a part of that group. He also described becoming disenchanted with Dave Rubin for having been captured by his audience and said "Rubin became far more cynical than I would have thought possible.

And it's very depressing. He was a friend, he's not a friend anymore". In AprilHarris hosted the social scientist Charles Murray on his podcast, discussing topics including the heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. Nisbettaccused Harris of participating in "pseudoscientific racialist speculation" and peddling "junk science". Harris has been accused of Islamophobia by linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky.

Robinson have criticized Harris for discussing in an excerpt from The End of Faith the possibility of a nuclear first strike against an Islamist regime that acquired long-range nuclear weapons and that would be undeterred by the threat of mutual destruction due to beliefs in jihad and martyrdom. Harris has countered that his views on this and other topics are frequently misrepresented by "unethical critics" who "deliberately" take his words out of context.

Affleck had described Harris's and host Bill Maher 's views on Muslims as "gross" and "racist", and Harris's statement that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas" as an "ugly thing to say". Affleck also compared Harris's and Maher's rhetoric to that of people who use antisemitic canards or define African Americans in terms of intraracial crime. Harris's dialogue on Islam with Maajid Nawaz received a combination of positive reviews [ ] [ ] [ ] and mixed reviews.

At the same time, he ought to call out another double standard that feeds the liberal reflex to excuse Islamists: Atheists do not make nearly enough noise about hatred toward Muslims. Samuel Benjamin Harris born April 9, is an American author. He is a philosopher [ source? Sam Harris also caused controversy when he interviewed Charles Murray with Ezra Klein accusing him of racist pseudoscience for doing that so Harris debated Ezra Klein.

Harris called himself part of the Intellectual Dark Web until when he said he was leaving because the Intellectual Dark Web had become too pro-Trump. Contents move to sidebar hide. Page Talk. Read Change Change source View history. Tools Tools. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Hardcover [ ]. Letter to a Christian Nation.

Paperback [ ]. Free Will [Deckle Edge]. Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue. Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Eric Weinstein and Ben Shapiro about the breakdown of shared values, the problem with identity politics, religion, free will, the primacy of reason, and many other topics.

Sam harris author biography

He is also a research fellow at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University. Discover new books on Goodreads. Sign in with Facebook Sign in options. Join Goodreads. Add New. Sam Harris isn't a Goodreads Author yetbut they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed. Weinstein Read more of this blog post ».

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