Sam Harris

Before The End of Faith appeared in 2004, few people had heard of Sam Harris, a neuroscientist. That book became a major bestseller and is often credited with launching the New Atheism almost on its own. Harris has since written several more bestsellers on a wide range of subjects and has become one of the most widely followed podcasters in the world.

Harris is known for taking positions that many find controversial. He has argued that Islam poses a uniquely serious danger, promoted meditation as a path to an atheist form of spirituality, endorsed the beneficial use of psychedelics, denied that free will exists, claimed that science can determine right and wrong, and voiced extreme alarm about the future of artificial intelligence.

Sam Harris: Critical Responses gathers twenty essays that examine these ideas from many directions. The contributors come from across the political and ideological spectrum, including left and right, Christian and atheist, and they approach Harris from philosophical, psychological and political angles. Their criticisms are often harsh, but the writers keep a measured and respectful tone. Sandra Woien, who earlier assembled Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, edited this volume. The foreword is by Stephen R. C. Hicks, a professor of philosophy at Rockford University and the author of Explaining Postmodernism (2004) and Nietzsche and the Nazis (2010).