The Arrogance of Humanism (Galaxy Books) [Paperback]

David W. Ehrenfeld (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195028902 | ISBN-13: 978-0195028904 | Publication Date: February 5, 1981

Attacks nothing less than the currently prevailing world philosophy--humanism, which the author feels is exceedingly dangerous in its hidden assumptions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An outstanding source of ideas for those interested in systematically thinking through the issues surrounding the increasing rate of the distintegration of social and physical organizations and the destruction of nature in the world today."--Choice

"Ehrenfeld provides a fascinating and extraordinarily topical tour de force on the present discrepancy between the worldwide humanistic faith in reason, science, and technology and the living reality of the human condition."--American Scientist

About the Author

David W. Ehrenfeld is at Rutgers University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 5, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195028902
• ISBN-13: 978-0195028904
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #513,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a Humanist..., October 14, 2009

By 

D. M. Eby - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Arrogance of Humanism (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)

As a humanist, I realize the impact we have on the world. Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won a Nobel in 2007. The Kyoto Protocol was initially adopted in 1997. David Erhenfeld published this book in 1981. David Ehrenfeld's visionary text, The Arrogance of Humanism, is a seminal book in the history of a environmental and socioeconomic movement that is finally being realized by the global population. Read it now, so you may understand what we face in the near future.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Aim, Lousy Target, December 29, 2010

By 

Matt Holbert (SPOKANE, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Arrogance of Humanism (Hardcover)

I found myself agreeing with the author's aim, but not his target...

The author's supposed target: "...the core of the religion of humanism: a supreme faith in human reason -- its ability to confront and solve the many problems that humans face, its ability to rearrange both the world of Nature and the affairs of men and women so that human life will prosper." My experience has been that most of the "faithful" -- of all stripes -- believe that man has dominion over nature and behaves accordingly. By focusing on this non-existent dividing line between camps -- traditionalists, modernists, and post-modernists -- who all love their consuming ways equally, the author spends a great deal of time fleshing out something that gets us no closer to understanding why we don't wake up to reality. (For a better understanding of these three camps, I would recommend Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change. Those who prefer fiction might find some value in: The Institution.

I found the final chapter ("Beyond Humanism") to be more constructive in it's tone than the rest of book and can recommend reading the book for that chapter alone. If anything, the contents of the book demonstrate just how little progress society has made in the "limits to growth" discussion over the last thirty years.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Neither balanced nor reasoned, February 15, 2010

By 

Doc Nieman (central New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Arrogance of Humanism (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)

The value of this book lies in its thorough portrayal of the views of an antihumanist. Beyond this, the book is little more than a long, monotonous harangue. The social, economic, and environmental evils addressed have little or nothing to do with either secular or liberal humanism. The direct criticisms of humanism are pale imitations of older, more scholarly works, for example "The Dialectic of Enlightenment" by Horkheimer and Adorno.