Morality Without God

M. M. MangasarianProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 46K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Morality Without God by M. M. MangasarianAuthor: Mangasarian, M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch), 1859-1943,Language: English, Class: BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion, Release Date: Apr 14, 2014

Editor's review

This book is a collection of lectures by the late nineteenth-century American freethinker Mangasarian on the foundations of morality. Its central claim is that ethics need not depend on divine revelation or religious authority, but can grow out of human reason, sympathy, and social need. The author writes in clear, argumentative English; his approach is direct, making the book a useful primer on secular ethics and the tradition of religious criticism. Its value lies less in building a precise theoretical system than in capturing the scene of debate of an era: when religious authority is called into question, how does morality defend itself? In reading, one can see that the author's discussion of human nature, social order, and moral motivation bears a distinct nineteenth-century context, and some arguments look rather sketchy today, yet as material for intellectual history it remains informative. Suitable for readers interested in ethics, philosophy of religion, and the history of secularism. The book is an English public-domain e-book of modest length, readable in segments on a commute or in the evening, and can also be set against contemporary secular ethical discussion to observe how the questions persist and change.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in philosophy of religion and secular ethics
Readers of history and literature curious about the nineteenth-century freethought movement
Students who need English public-domain material for academic reading practice
Beginners in ethics seeking the classic debate on the relation between morality and religion

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic, contemporary textbook of ethical theory
Readers with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
Readers seeking faith-building or religious apologetic content

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and the opening lecture to grasp the author's central claims and line of argument, then move into the individual chapters.
Keep pen and paper to note the several arguments the author gives for the source of morality, and after finishing assess each for persuasiveness and historical limitation.
Read alongside introductory essays on contemporary secular or religious ethics, comparing the questions and the styles of argument.
Read the English text in sessions, and after each chapter summarize the main points in two or three sentences, rather than racing through without attention to the argument.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no background in philosophy?

It can be read, but requires some patience. The author's style is argumentative, and philosophical concepts are not dense; general readers can follow the gist. If you have no habit of reading English at all, it is advisable first to find a relevant Chinese introduction for background, then return to the original.

Do the views in the book represent the consensus of contemporary ethics?

That would be a misunderstanding. The book is a lecture text by a late nineteenth-century freethinker, reflecting the debate of its time over the relation between religion and morality; its manner of argument and its concerns bear clear marks of the era, and it should be read as intellectual history rather than as settled contemporary ethics.

Does reading the book require knowing the author's biography in advance?

Not necessarily. Knowing that the author was a nineteenth-century American freethinker and that the book consists of public lectures helps one grasp the tone and audience; but the core arguments unfold directly in the text, and one can read it without relying on biographical detail.

How difficult is the English in this book?

On the whole it is nineteenth-century expository prose addressed to the public, with long sentences but not obscure vocabulary. Readers with college-level English can finish it with a dictionary; for smoother comprehension, read chapter summaries first, then the original.

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About the author

M. M. Mangasarian Author · American · 1859–1943

M. M. Mangasarian (1859–1943) was an Armenian-American rationalist and writer, born in the Ottoman Empire and later settled in the United States. He had served as a Presbyterian minister before turning to religious criticism, and in 1900 he founded the Independent Religious Society in Chicago, which he led until 1925. The library holds twelve of his works, most of them questioning Christianity and the Bible. His representative works include The Truth about Jesus: Is He a Myth?, How the Bible Was Invented and Morality Without God, as well as writings on Shakespeare's religion. Aimed at general readers, his work presents rationalist positions in a plain, speech-like and argumentative style. Public information on his early life and education is limited.