Monday December 15, 2008 5:20 am Lethbridge

• "This book's first premise is that much human suffering is caused - or worsened, or prevented by being alleviated - by extremisms of various types, ranging (for example) from religious fanaticism to moral anarchy, from functional illiteracy to deconstructed higher education, from male chauvinism to militant feminism." [p. xi]
  
  
• "The second premise is that three great sages of antiquity - namely Aristotle, Buddha, and Confucius, to whom I refer collectively as the ABCs - each taught ways to eliminate needless suffering, to guide human beings toward personal fulfillment, beneficial insight, and social balance." [p. xi]
  
  
• "The ABCs share something else as well: the supremely important notion that the main purpose of being alive is to lead a good life, here and now." [p. xi]

  This is an excellent way to begin: explicitly state the main assumptions underlying the book's message. It is important to recognize at the outset that Marinoff has a Ph. D. in philosophy. This is a book with a philosophical perspective, and it describes ways in which the individual can lead "the good life". In this sense, the book may be viewed as a "self-help" book: "So you decide: ... If you prefer to lead a good life now, continue reading." [p. xi] He makes it all sound so easy. Just continue reading and you will learn how to lead a good life. This is what I find objectionable. I prefer a tone that is more neutral: Here is some information that you may find interesting. I did like the inclusion of "deconstructed higher education" as a form of extremism.

Chap. 1 Globalization and Its Discontents

• "Looking at the global village from a philosopher's orbit, you can see prominent civilizational features: politics, religions, cultures, sciences, technologies, arts." [p. 4]
  
  
• "I draw your attention to four mighty human civilizations ... Western, Islamic, Indian, and East Asian ... They are currently the mightiest civilizations on the planet, and events that unfold within, between, and among them have the greatest impact on the entire global village." [p. 4]

  This is a tricky summary. The labels highlight different dimensions. Islamic is a religious label. Western and East Asian are geographic labels, Indian is a national label. Let me play with this for a moment. Geography Nation Religion ABCs Western N & S America, Europe Christianity Aristotle Middle East/ North Africa/ Pakistan/Indonesia Islam India Hindu Buddha East Asian China/Japan Confucian Confucius The ABCs do not cover the second row, and Buddha and Confucius relate more to East Asia than to India, even though Buddha was an Indian. It gets even more tangled - Marinoff groups three disparate religions (Christianity, Judaism & Islam) as all being Abrahamic. There are two Islamic nations (Iran and Pakistan) although Indonesia has the largest Islamic population. Lumping China and Japan together is also questionable since Japan is more Buddhist than Confucian. Nonetheless, the book appears to have a bias in favor of Asian cultures and conversely, gives Islam less emphasis than it perhaps deserves. It may not fit the clever ABC acronym but surely Mohammed should be considered on a par with the other three philosophers if one is trying to provide a balanced perspective. Then again, a balanced perspective may not be the goal. I suspect the intent is to show how the two Asian rows have a perspective that the two upper rows could benefit from. I am slow but I often get there - the title of the book champions the Buddhist "Middle Way". The top two rows have religion as an important aspect of their culture, the bottom two rows have philosophy as their foundation. The bottom two rows have not been as confrontational as the top two rows in their interactions with other groups.

   

Tags: philosophy, religion