Overview

What makes us who we are? Are we born good or evil? Do we have free will? What drives our behaviour and why? Can technology change what it means to be human? In this thoroughly revised second edition of Emotional Amoral Egoism, Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan demonstrates the impact of our innate predispositions on key issues, from conflict, inequality and transcultural understanding to Big Data, fake news and the social contract. However, it is the societies we live in and their governance structures that largely determine how we act on our innate predispositions. Consequently, Al-Rodhan proposes a new and sustainable good governance paradigm, which must reconcile the ever-present tension between the three attributes of human nature ('Emotional Amoral Egoism') and the nine critical needs of human dignity. Emotional Amoral Egoism is a perfect resource for enlightened readers, academics and policy makers interested in how our innate instincts and tendencies shape the world we live in, and how the interplay between neurophilosophy and policy can be harnessed for pragmatic and sustainable peace, security and prosperity solutions for all, at all times and under all circumstances.

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9780718895723

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Reviews

An ambitious book with a wide-ranging vision for the future. Nayef Al-Rodhan offers a novel account of humanity's recent struggles by looking at competing forces in the human mind, in geo-politics and wider society, informed by his extensive knowledge of the workings of the brain and his appreciation of how recent findings in neuroscience can expand the base for urgently needed philosophical theorizing. Philosophers may take issue with Al-Rodhan's theory of human nature, global governance or morality, but he poses an inescapable challenge by convincingly arguing that we need to integrate neuroscientific findings and insights from the humanities and social sciences when thinking about who we are, how we can co-exist peacefully and thrive as a species. Professor Barry C Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London This ambitious and wide-ranging book offers both a synthesis of philosophical and scientific approaches to human nature and a strong plea for a set of universal human values. Its attraction lies in its forceful argument that the emotional aspects of human nature should be taken seriously if we are to design effective systems of political and moral cooperation, and that our political thinking needs to be inspired by the neuro-psychological consequences of our brain chemistry. Professor Michael Freeden, University of Oxford

Author Information

Professor Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan is a Neuroscientist, Philosopher and Geostrategist. He was educated at the Mayo Clinic, Yale University and Harvard University, and is now an Honorary Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford, Senior Fellow and Head of the Geopolitics and Global Futures Programme at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and a member of the Council on Frontier Risks at the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is a Prize winning scholar, and was voted amongst the top 30 most influential neuroscientists in the world. He has written 22 books and 250 articles.

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