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Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists (Paperback)

~ (Author), William Dembski (Author) "One definition of Epicurean is "a person fond of luxury and sensuous pleasure..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, New Testament, Planned Parenthood (more...)
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Abortion. Euthanasia. Infanticide. Sexual promiscuity.Ideas and actions once unthinkable have become commonplace. We seem to live in a different moral universe than we occupied just a few decades ago. Consent and noncoercion seem to be the last vestiges of a morality long left behind. Christian moral tenets are now easily dismissed and have been replaced with what is curiously presented as a superior, more magnanimous, respectful and even humble morality. How did we end up so far away from where we began? Can the decline be stopped?Ben Wiker, in this provocative and insightful book, traces the amazing story that explains our present cultural situation. Wiker finds the roots of our moral slide reaching all the way back to the ethical theory and atheistic cosmology of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Christian teaching had been in contention with this worldview long before it reached its pinnacle with the rise and acceptance of Darwinism. But it was Darwinism, Wiker contends, that provided this ancient teaching with the seemingly modern and scientific basis that captured twentieth-century minds. Wiker demonstrates that this ancient atomistic and materialistic philosophy supplies the guiding force behind Darwinism and powerfully propels the hedonistic bent of our society while promoting itself under the guise of pure science.This book is a challenge not only to those who believe Darwinism to be purely scientific fact but to Christian who have at times inconsistently lived out their Christian moral convictions and so have failed to recognize and address the ancient corrosive underpinnings of our present moral and intellectual crisis.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 327 pages
  • Publisher: InterVarsity Press (July 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0830826661
  • ISBN-13: 978-0830826667
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,098 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Benjamin Wiker
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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One definition of Epicurean is "a person fond of luxury and sensuous pleasure." Read the first page
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New York, New Testament, Planned Parenthood, Epicureanism Becomes Darwinism, First Darwinian, Jesus Christ, Lord Kelvin, The Greek
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21 Reviews
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50 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars From Epicurus to Darwin, December 21, 2002
By Phillip Johnson (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Although I have written six books about Darwinism, I learned much from Ben Wiker's book. Wiker tells the engrossing story of the centuries-long contest between Epicureanism and Christianity, with the Epicureans finally winning their long battle to impose their philosophy on science and the cultural definition of "knowledge." Exploiting the authority of science, Epicureans were able to seize the high moral and intellectual ground for agosticism and materialism,thereby demoting Christianity from its prior intellectual prominence into the marginalized status it now occupies in the intellectual and university world. The Epicurean objective always has been and remains to achieve a moral objective by effectively banning the supernatural from reality, and with it any fear of judgment after death. Attaining this objective prepared the way for all the events we associate with the 1960s. Ben Wiker's intellectual history tells us far more than any scientific book could of the purpose and effect of the long campaign to establish matrialism as the governing philosophy of the world. I highly recommend it.
by Phillip Johnson (author of "Darwin on Trial)< Berkeley, CA USA
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35 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Western Civilization in a Nutshell, April 28, 2005
Anyone seeking to understand the moral plight of the Western world should drop everything and read this book. The author presents a sweeping history of materialist moral philosophy from ancient Greece to current day. For Wiker, Western morality is split crisply and catastrophically into two utterly irreconcilable camps: the Epicurean, in which man is the measure of all things, and the Judeo-Christian, in which God is the measure of all things. Epicurus believed the goal of man is to reduce his personal pain and discomfort. Starting with this conclusion, he backed into a cosmology to support it, one which excludes the possibilities of (a) an afterlife and (b) divine interference with human affairs, both of which constrain our actions and leave us in a continual state of apprehension. It follows in the Epicurean view that nature is random and therefore without purpose. If nature is random, then there are no values or behaviors we humans are required to embrace. This conception of morality and its supporting cosmology, dormant from roughly Constantine to the Renaissance, revived when scientific discovery seemed to support Epicurean cosmic theories. It gained momentum as science advanced and eventually overwhelmed Judeo-Christian cosmology and morality, at least in terms of our social practices and laws. Wiker does an absolutely magnificent job of critiquing a host of enormously influential materialist figures including Newton, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Darwin himself, elegantly and convincingly tracing their ideas back to their Epicurean sources, and revealing the true essence and implications of their ideas. Unfortunately, in a world where one person's idea of right and wrong is as good as another's, where the only true definition of right and wrong is how it makes us feel, abuses, miseries, and horrors are bound to ensue. As Wiker reviews the thought of such modern day monsters as Ernst Haeckel, Margaret Sanger, and Alfred Kinsey, we begin to get an idea of how awful the materialist's reality can be. And yet, Wiker points out that although scientific advances in our day undermine the random view of nature and strongly support a designer universe, the materialist habit of thought is so deeply ingrained that we cling to relativistic moral positions required by random nature anyway. There are so many fascinating ideas in this book it is almost impossible to summarize. But, I think it can help anyone put his/her ideas in perspective and offer some refreshingly sensible insight about our culture, which seems so irreconcilably split over issues like abortion, euthanasia, recreational drugs, etc., etc.
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33 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars All seriousness aside..., August 12, 2002
I would like to share my personal knowledge of the author. I have had the pleasure of studying under Dr. Wiker's guidance in three classes at my college. He is intelligent and humourous. He can take a complex subject, break it down, and help you come to understand it and appreciate it, similar to that great writer, C.S. Lewis. I have read a number of other articles that he has written on various subjects, and I have yet to be disappointed by his ability to convey an important and valid idea with simplicity and and a sense of the practical applications of the theoretical. If you have any interest in philosophy, or evolution, or theology: this is a book that is sure to offer a new perspective on all three. You will enjoy it, and come away with new knowledge and new thoughts that you might need to mull over, and consider, before you come back for a second read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Epicurean metaphysics ... masquerades as science
Benjamin Wiker has a PhD in theological ethics; he has written a number of books including (with Jonathan Witt) "A Meaningful World" that I have reviewed. Read more
Published 2 months ago by rowley32256

2.0 out of 5 stars Refuting a conspiracy theory about latter-day Epicureans
This book, better labelled a conspiracy theory about latter-day Epicureans who do not actually exist, is not a complete survey of Epicureanism in the wider scope of Christian... Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Miller

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There is so much information in this book, it takes a while to comprehend. However, it is a good overview of how Western society has been in decline and how it started with the... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars This is it, Baby!!
I've read many books that have made similar points as this one, but the difference is that this book IS the point. Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars Moral Moronic Nonsense From Yet Another Fundamentalist Protestant Christian Who Loves America
Philip Johnson's "Darwin on Trial" should be regarded as the quintessential example of a nonfiction genre in which Christians complain bitterly of modern America's moral... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Epicurus set in motion an intellectual movement that Charles Darwin brought to completion
According to John Maynard Keynes, great intellectual and cultural movements frequently trace back to thinkers who worked in obscurity and are now long forgotten. Read more
Published on June 21, 2006 by Discovery Reviewer

1.0 out of 5 stars Pathetic scholarship
What an utter waste of time and logic. Where can I get my refund?
Published on March 8, 2006 by faithless

3.0 out of 5 stars The Epicurus-shaped hole in our hearts
Wiker traces some nonobvious but fascinating connections between classical Epicureanism and post-Renaissance secular science and philosophy, but he doesn't really explain why many... Read more
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