Books recommendations on universal human truths?
July 22, 2017 8:19 AM Subscribe
Humankind has always believed in good and evil. It has believed in higher divine powers. Humankind has always had the need for love. These “human truths” and many more have formed the basis for most of the world’s greatest literature, film etc. What books (or websites) discuss these universal human truths across time and cultures?
It has believed in higher divine powers.
Dan Everett's experience with the Pirahã suggests this is not a universal human truth: "The Pirahã: People Who Define Happiness Without God." I'd suggest looking at basic intros to cultural anthropology, e.g. John Monaghan & Peter Just's excellent Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction which interleaves delightful anecdotes from the authors' research experiences with a concise overview of the field. The things to note are, more or less, the chapter divisions. Some universals include culture itself, structural division of labor, kinship systems, economic systems, metaphysical/non-materialist assumptions (not necessarily a higher power), constructions of personhood, and so on. The afterword to Monaghan & Just in particular talks about how to make educated guesses about what is generally true of human society.
posted by Wobbuffet at 8:59 AM on July 22, 2017 [9 favorites]
Dan Everett's experience with the Pirahã suggests this is not a universal human truth: "The Pirahã: People Who Define Happiness Without God." I'd suggest looking at basic intros to cultural anthropology, e.g. John Monaghan & Peter Just's excellent Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction which interleaves delightful anecdotes from the authors' research experiences with a concise overview of the field. The things to note are, more or less, the chapter divisions. Some universals include culture itself, structural division of labor, kinship systems, economic systems, metaphysical/non-materialist assumptions (not necessarily a higher power), constructions of personhood, and so on. The afterword to Monaghan & Just in particular talks about how to make educated guesses about what is generally true of human society.
posted by Wobbuffet at 8:59 AM on July 22, 2017 [9 favorites]
Really want to second Wobbuffet and anthropology.
posted by Peter B-S at 9:43 AM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Peter B-S at 9:43 AM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
Cloud Atlas.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:22 AM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:22 AM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
“The Good Book: A Humanist Bible” compiled by A. C. Grayling tries a bit hard to upstage the original, and perhaps dicks about too much in Greek mythology for my taste, but it does an admirable and erudite job.
posted by scruss at 2:03 PM on July 22, 2017
posted by scruss at 2:03 PM on July 22, 2017
Character Strengths and Virtues by Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson. The book categorizes and measures universal character strengths and virtues by looking at human cultures across time.
I initially picked it up because I enjoyed Seligman's writings on positive psychology, such as Learned Optimism, which helped me through a tough spell in college. To my surprise, Character Strengths and Virtues was fascinating and very inspiring because of its depiction and attempt at measurement of strengths and virtues. Seligman looks at what aspects of humanity historical and modern cultures extol and uphold, and from there synthesizes and distills strengths and virtues. He separates them broadly into strengths of wisdom and knowledge, of courage, of humanity, of justice, of temperance, and of transcendence. For all virtues he creates criteria that determine why they were chosen as universal virtues, and discusses examples and a little bit on how to aspire towards them.
I highly recommend skimming through the book. It made me notice more when other people displayed their strengths, and solidified in me a desire to work towards honing my own character strengths and potential. The book gives a little glimpse into how beautiful humanity can be.
posted by Iron Carbide at 1:08 PM on July 24, 2017
I initially picked it up because I enjoyed Seligman's writings on positive psychology, such as Learned Optimism, which helped me through a tough spell in college. To my surprise, Character Strengths and Virtues was fascinating and very inspiring because of its depiction and attempt at measurement of strengths and virtues. Seligman looks at what aspects of humanity historical and modern cultures extol and uphold, and from there synthesizes and distills strengths and virtues. He separates them broadly into strengths of wisdom and knowledge, of courage, of humanity, of justice, of temperance, and of transcendence. For all virtues he creates criteria that determine why they were chosen as universal virtues, and discusses examples and a little bit on how to aspire towards them.
I highly recommend skimming through the book. It made me notice more when other people displayed their strengths, and solidified in me a desire to work towards honing my own character strengths and potential. The book gives a little glimpse into how beautiful humanity can be.
posted by Iron Carbide at 1:08 PM on July 24, 2017
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posted by saucysault at 8:26 AM on July 22, 2017