Why Can't We be Good

(Paperback)

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Description

After nearly forty years of weighing humanity's deepest dilemmas - working in settings ranging from university and school classrooms to corporate offices and hospitals - best selling author, philosopher and religious scholar, Jacob Needleman, presents the most urgent, deeply felt and widely accessible work of his career. In WHY CAN'T WE BE GOOD, Needleman identifies the core problem that therapists and social philosophers fail to see. He depicts the individual human as a being who knows what is good, yet who remains mysteriously helpless to adopt inwardly the ethical, moral and religious ideas that are bequeathed to him.

Reviews

"As usual Jacob Needleman gets to the heart of the matter with eloquence and efficiency. Perhaps it would be better to say the dark heart of the matter, for we find ourselves beset with trials and tribulations of our own shameful making. How to get out Here is the road map-with a beautiful speck of light at the end of a very difficult path. This is Needleman's best work." -Ken Burns "An immensely learned man who is unembarrassed by the big questions that many of his fellow philosophers prefer to dodge." -"Chicago Tribune" "This book doesn't offer quick fixes or shortcuts, but it does present a way for readers attempting to follow an ethical, spiritual path to recognize, understand, and assimilate their human limitations." -"New Age Retailer"

Author Bio

Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the former director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, California.