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[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Please use this topic to cast your vote for the May 2013 philosophy book of the month. The poll will be open for 11 days from the time of this post. Whichever book has the most votes by then will be the May book of the month. Click on the following links to learn more about each book:

Who Am I? and if so, how many? by by Richard David Precht

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

Lying by Sam Harris

[Rombomb]

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

Also consider the books website (you can read the intro): http://beginningofinfinity.com/

Lying by Sam Harris

Regarding _Lying_, by Sam Harris: [amazon=]B005N0KL5G/ref=zg_bs_11019_12[/amazon]

Albeit with tongue in cheek, Mark Twain once wrote: "No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstance--the deduction that it is then a Virtue goes without saying." Well, Sam Harris begs to differ. And differ he does, with an impassioned, straight-shooting argument not only that lies are "the social equivalent of toxic waste," but also that each of us is capable of, and would benefit from, a life led free of the lie. Harris takes his time defining and stratifying types of lies--from adultery to government cover-ups to the seemingly innocuous little white lie--but insists that at any scale, a lie "condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act."

Harris is wrong to think that all lying is bad. For example, lying in self-defense is good.

[HugBeam]

Staff, this topic should be unstickied. It's really old.