Abstract There is a fundamental flaw at the heart of Karl Marx's approach to the alleviation of human suffering. That flaw lies in his commitment to a conception of the person – technically, the ego – that centres on desire-satisfaction, and, deepening the problem, does so in a way that underplays the centrality to all desire-satisfaction beyond that of the most elemental bodily desires, of that element Hegel termed “recognition.” Remedying this failure gives an understanding of desire and suffering that (...) is essentially that of the Buddha. (shrink)

Abstract:There is a fundamental flaw at the heart of Karl Marx's approach to the alleviation of human suffering. That flaw lies in his commitment to a conception of the person—technically, the ego—that centers on desire/satisfaction, and, deepening the problem, does so in a way that underplays the centrality to all desire/satisfaction beyond that of the most elemental bodily desires, of that element that Hegel termed "recognition." Remedying this failure gives an understanding of desire and suffering that is essentially that of (...) the Buddha. (shrink)

When it comes to morality, the New Atheists appear to think that their rejection of religion, except for the removal of fundamentalist distortions, changes nothing. We think that this is because they have not thought things through. Atheism might not be a threat to shame morality, but it is certainly a threat to guilt morality. Given that there are reasons to doubt the viability today of shame morality, we face a far greater problem if atheism triumphs than the New Atheists (...) admit. (shrink)

When it comes to morality, the New Atheists appear to think that their rejection of religion, except for the removal of fundamentalist distortions, changes nothing. We think that this is because they have not thought things through. Atheism might not be a threat to shame morality, but it is certainly a threat to guilt morality. Given that there are reasons to doubt the viability today of shame morality, we face a far greater problem if atheism triumphs than the New Atheists (...) admit. (shrink)