A treatise in which eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant attempts to reconcile empiricism and rationalism.

Bill Moyers talks with Mary Gordon about the concept of martyrdom and its connection to rage and despair. Gordon also explores the negative implications of what she sees as two converging influences of modern society: fundamentalism and consumerism. Does science have a monopoly on reason? Not at all, says philosopher, atheist and author Colin McGinn - reason is the foundation of morality as well.

How can confusing directions actually help us? Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive? Why is there such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy? In his groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality...

The best-selling author of The Island at the Center of the World chronicles the more than three-hundred-year debate between religion and science as revealed through the long and momentous odyssey of the skeletal remains of French philosopher René Descartes, creator of the famous phrase "I think, therefore I am."

"Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it explain why there seems to be so much irrationality in the world, including, let's be honest, in each of us? These are the goals of Steven Pinker's follow-up to Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates's "new favorite book of all time"). Humans today are often portrayed as cavemen out of time, poised to react to a lion in the grass with a suite of biases, blind spots, fallacies, and illusions. But this, Pinker...

A comprehensive history of the creation of the modern Western mind recounts how crises in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to medical, literary and philosophical questions about the nature of human inner life. --Publisher. This book takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story...

The popular blogger and author of the best-selling "You Are Not So Smart" shares more discoveries about self-delusion and irrational thinking, analyzing 15 additional ways people routinely fool themselves in areas ranging from attraction and time wasted to best intentions and the true price of happiness.

"A biography of the great astronomer and scientist, and an examination of the faith vs. science question, then and now, written by a noted astrophysicist and author"-- Provided by publisher. At present, we face enormous crises, such as the minimization of the dangers of climate change because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries contradicted the teachings...

From the Publisher: A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason. At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently...