Good Reasons

One of the world's most respected psychiatrists provides a much-needed new evolutionary framework for making sense of mental illness With his classic book Why We Get Sick, Randolph Nesse established the field of evolutionary medicine. Now he returns with a book that transforms our understanding of mental disorders by exploring a fundamentally new question. Instead of asking why certain people suffer from mental illness, Nesse asks why natural selection has left us with fragile minds at all. Drawing on revealing stories from his own clinical practice and insights from evolutionary biology, Nesse shows how negative emotions are useful in certain situations, yet can become excessive. Anxiety protects us from harm in the face of danger, but false alarms are inevitable. Low mood prevents us from wasting effort in pursuit of unreachable goals, but it often escalates into pathological depression. Other mental disorders, such as addiction and anorexia, result from the mismatch between modern environments and our ancient human past. Taken together, these insights and many more help to explain the pervasiveness of human suffering, and show us new paths for relieving it. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings will fascinate anyone who wonders how our minds can be so powerful, yet so fragile, and how love and goodness came to exist in organisms shaped to maximize Darwinian fitness.

Engaging and accessible to all students, Good Reasons is a brief, highly readable introduction to argument by two of the country's foremost rhetoricians.

Examine the evidence for Christianity and why it is worth considering. Lots of people assume that Christianity is simply a nice story for kids or a niche hobby for weirdos—or worse, unattractively restrictive. In this book, Ben Shaw invites sceptical readers to think again. He outlines seven reasons why Christianity is worth considering—or reconsidering—not least because it offers some thought-provoking and rational answers to our deepest questions. This warm, honest book shows that the Christian message is both more credible and more wonderful than we might have otherwise thought, and calls readers to investigate the person of Jesus for themselves.

In the latest Sandy Cove romance from the author of The Red Bikini, ten good reasons aren’t enough to keep Lia and Evan apart… With a crazy eighty-hour-a-week job, an almost-boyfriend who’s left her for Bora Bora, and way too many terrible bridesmaid dresses in her future, Lia McCabe needs a change of pace before the imminent crush of the big 3-0. First up, Lia is determined to help make sure her friend Drew’s whale-watching business takes off. But when an accident leaves him unable to man the boat, Lia’s only option is to convince Drew’s brooding, sexy brother to captain the ship (and save her butt). For the last two years, Evan Betancourt has been sailing around the world to avoid the ghosts of his past. But when he pulls into Sandy Cove for a brief stop, Lia makes him an offer she won’t let him refuse. And as these two opposites figure out how to work together, the murky waters between denial and attraction are creeping up fast…

In Reasons and the Good Roger Crisp answers some of the oldest questions in moral philosophy. Claiming that a fundamental issue in normative ethics is what ultimate reasons for action we might have, he argues that the best statements of such reasons will not employ moral concepts. He investigates and explains the nature of reasons themselves; his account of how we come to know them combines an intuitionist epistemology with elements of Pyrrhonist scepticism. He defends a hedonistic theory of well-being and an account of practical reason according to which we can give some, though not overriding, priority to our own good over that of others. The book develops original lines of argument within a framework of some traditional but currently less popular views.

This book presents a strong case for the Christian faith by using scientific evidence and philosophical reasoning. Although an abundance of Christian apologetic textbooks exist, most are not easily accessible because they offer long and scholarly treatments of subject matter that may not appeal to lay readers. This book differs in two ways. First, it presents the case for Christianity in a friendly scholarly prose, which enables readers to plainly understand each reason to believe. Second, these reasons are concisely structured so that within minutes, readers can quickly examine each argument in light of the evidence presented. 101 Good Reasons to Believe is essential reading for theists who wish to strengthen their faith in God and for nontheists who desire to critically investigate the truth claims of the Bible. This book includes topics such as: astronomical evidence for the existence of God, evidence for creation and intelligent design, refutation of Darwinian evolution, the historicity of Jesus, why there is human suffering if God exists, the accuracy of the Bible, and evidence for heaven and hell. The 101 reasons presented make thought-provoking and compelling reading for scholars and non-scholars alike.

A founder of the field of evolutionary medicine uses his decades of experience as a psychiatrist to provide a much-needed new framework for making sense of mental illness. Why do I feel bad? There is real power in understanding our bad feelings. With his classic Why We Get Sick, Dr. Randolph Nesse helped to establish the field of evolutionary medicine. Now he returns with a book that transforms our understanding of mental disorders by exploring a fundamentally new question. Instead of asking why certain people suffer from mental illness, Nesse asks why natural selection has left us all with fragile minds. Drawing on revealing stories from his own clinical practice and insights from evolutionary biology, Nesse shows how negative emotions are useful in certain situations, yet can become overwhelming. Anxiety protects us from harm in the face of danger, but false alarms are inevitable. Low moods prevent us from wasting effort in pursuit of unreachable goals, but they often escalate into pathological depression. Other mental disorders, such as addiction and anorexia, result from the mismatch between modern environment and our ancient human past. And there are good evolutionary reasons for sexual disorders and for why genes for schizophrenia persist. Taken together, these and many more insights help to explain the pervasiveness of human suffering, and show us new paths for relieving it by understanding individuals as individuals.

This text introduces university students to the philosophical ethos of critical thinking, as well as to the essential skills required to practice it. The authors believe that Critical Thinking should engage students with issues of broader philosophical interest while they develop their skills in reasoning and argumentation. The text is informed throughout by philosophical theory concerning argument and communication—from Aristotle’s recognition of the importance of evaluating argument in terms of its purpose to Habermas’s developing of the concept of communicative rationality. The authors’ treatment of the topic is also sensitive to the importance of language and of situation in shaping arguments, and to the necessity in argument of some interplay between reason and emotion. Unlike many other texts in this area, then, Good Reasons for Better Arguments helps to explain both why argument is important and how the social role of argument plays an important part in determining what counts as a good argument. If this text is distinctive in the extent to which it deals with the theory and the values of critical thinking, it is also noteworthy for the thorough grounding it provides in the skills of deductive and inductive reasoning; the authors present the reader with useful tools for the interpretation, evaluation and construction of arguments. A particular feature is the inclusion of a wide range of exercises, rich with examples that illuminate the practice of argument for the student. Many of the exercises are self testing, with answers provided at the back of the text; others are appropriate for in-class discussion and assignments. Challenging yet accessible, Good Reasons for Better Arguments brings a fresh perspective to an essential subject.

This book provides, through the semi-fictional character Benjamin Buchanan, strong but simply presented evidence for the existence of God. Benjamin's 'ten good reasons' are argued from the perspective of a scientist and Christian. They are based on a combination of a) logical reasoning, and b) his observations on the awesome (literally!) combination of factors which have combined to make life possible on planet Earth including God's human family. The book should inspire readers to see Earth, its rich resources and lifeforms, from a more reverential perspective - essential in an environmentally and socially stressed planet!

In Matthew Inman's New York Times best selling 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides), samurai sword-wielding kittens and hamsters that love .50-caliber machine guns commingle with a cracked out Tyrannosaur that is extremely hard to potty train. Bacon is better than true love and you may awake in the middle of the night to find your nephew nibbling on your toes. Sixtry of Inman's comic illustrations and life-bending guides are presented in full-color inside 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides). Consider such handy advice as: 4 Reasons to Carry a Shovel at All Times, 6 Types of Crappy Hugs, 8 Ways to Tell if Your Loved One Plans to Eat You, 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat, and 20 Things Worth Knowing About Beer.