Back to Human Nature

Emotions, feelings and morality play a critical role in our daily decision-making. With the rapid advance of industry and technology, however, this subjective information is becoming less valued in critical decisions. Rational thought and the accumulation of objective knowledge are often credited with humanity’s thriving success in recent centuries. This book makes the case that humanity’s social progress has only been possible through these too often repressed subjective factors, and will be equally crucial in altering the present course of society.

Charles B. Osburn is dean and professor emeritus at The University of Alabama. He has taught French or library science for some forty years and conducted a doctoral seminar on epistemology and information theory for twenty years.

Charles B. Osburn

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 237
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2020
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8158-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4021-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
1. Being Human 5
2. Special Features of Mind 25
3. Knowledge and Industry in Evolution 42
4. Western Worldview 68
5. Tailoring Western Knowledge 90
6. Freedom, Motivation and Responsibility 109
7. The Western Ideological Environment 134
8. Human Stability and Balance 158
9. Invitation to a Stance 172
Chapter Notes 185
Bibliography 211
Index 223