Overview

There is an epidemic of bad thinking in the world today. An alarming number of people are embracing crazy, even dangerous ideas. They believe that vaccinations cause autism. They reject the scientific consensus on climate change as a hoax. Worse, bad thinking drives bad acting--it even inspired a mob to storm the US Capitol. In this book, Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro argue that the best antidote for bad thinking is the wisdom, insights, and practical skills of philosophy. When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People provides an engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence, and probability that can make all of us more reasonable and responsible citizens. When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People shows how we can more readily spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, the book reveals how epistemology, which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge, and ethics, the study of moral principles that should govern our behavior, can reduce bad thinking. Moreover, the book shows why philosophy's millennia-old advice about how to lead a good, rational, and examined life is essential for escaping our current predicament.

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9798200788972

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Steven Nadler is an American author and philosopher specializing in early modern philosophy. His books include Rembrandt's Jews, which was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, and Spinoza: A Life, which won the Koret Jewish Book Award. He is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy and Evjue-Bascom Professor in Humanities, and from 2004 to 2009, he was the Max and Frieda Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lawrence Shapiro is professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His books include Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace and The Miracle Myth: Why Belief in the Resurrection and the Supernatural Is Unjustified. Jonathan Yen is a commercial voice-over artist and Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. He was inspired by the Golden Age of Radio, and while the gold was gone by the time he got there, he has carried that inspiration through to commercial work, voice acting, and stage productions. From vintage Howard Fast science fiction to naturalist Paul Rosolie's true adventures in the Amazon, he loves to tell a good story.

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