Why Can't We Be Good?
Most people have a intrinsic desire to do good rather than evil, yet  all humans fail in perplexing ways to do good. Needleman's titular question has  haunted philosophers and religious thinkers since Socrates. Needleman,  professor of philosophy at San Francisco State and popular author ofLost Christianity, offers his eloquent and  entertaining thoughts about why humans are such flops at goodness. He draws on  a wide range of philosophers, religious thinkers and psychologists—from  Socrates to Buddha to Rabbi Hillel—and discovers that our inability to be  good is simple: humans are creatures of choice, and our freedom allows us to  make bad choices as well as good ones. This freedom, however, is also "the  freedom to love and act justly toward man." Using exercises from his own  classes, Needleman suggests that the practice of attending to the  other—listening carefully, repeating what the other person has said to ensure  an accurate hearing—moves us a long way toward achieving the good. Though  Needleman's answer to this age-old question about goodness is no more  satisfying or original than any other, his lively prose, storytelling skills  and lucid insights draw us into an animated conversation with a brilliant  teacher.(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.