Critical Responses

Sam Harris sparked off the unexpected phenomenon of the New Atheism with his best-seller The End of Faith (2004), and has since authored five more best-sellers on different topics, as well as becoming a leading presence on social media. His blog Making Sense has an enormous popular following. Harris is celebrated as an opponent of theistic religion, a warning voice against the menace of Islamism, an atheist advocate of spiritual meditation (in the Tibetan Buddhist manner), a proponent of the controversial view that science can solve all ethical problems, and a disbeliever in the existence of free will. Harris is frequently a target of hostility. Critics accuse him of a soulless mechanistic worldview, a bigoted Islamophobism, and a scientistic denial of deeper humanity. Typical of many bitter attacks on Harris is that of Union Theological Seminary professor Robert Wright, who wrote in 2018 that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it." Harris has been identified as a member of "the Intellectual Dark Web," though he has recently disavowed any further adherence to that group. Harris's much-anticipated confrontation with Jordan Peterson on the subject of religion disappointingly fell flat when Harris and Peterson were unable to get on to the serious discussion because they could not agree on the definition of the word "truth." Sam Harris: Critical Responses is a collection of essays criticizing different aspects of Harris's thinking from a range of diverse perspectives-left and right, Christian and atheist, philosophical, psychological, and political. Though the criticisms are often severe, the approach is always reasonable and respectful. As one noted author commented on Sandra Woien's previous collection, Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, "Both fans and foes will appreciate this volume."