Why is a forgery worth so much less than an original work of art? What's so funny about someone slipping on a banana peel? Why, as Freud once asked, is a man willing to kiss a woman passionately, but not use her toothbrush? And how many times should you baptize a two-headed twin? "Descartes' Baby" answers such questions, questions we may have never thought to ask about such uniquely human traits as art, humour, faith, disgust, and morality. In this thought-provoking and fascinating account of human nature, psychologist Paul Bloom contends that we all see the world in terms of bodies and souls. Even babies have a rich understanding of both the physical and social worlds. They expect objects to obey principles of physics, and they're startled when things disappear or defy gravity. They can read the emotions of adults and respond with their own feelings of anger, sympathy and joy. This 'dualist' perspective remains with us throughout our lives. Using his own researches and new ideas from philosophy, evolutionary biology, aesthetics, theology, and neuroscience, Bloom shows how this way to making sense of reality can explain what makes us human. The myriad ways that our childhood views of the world undergo development throughout our lives and profoundly influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions is the subject of this richly rewarding book.

Descartes' Baby : How Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human

Politics & Social Sciences

Paul Bloom

Social Sciences

Random House]

How Pleasure Works: Why we like what we like

Vintage Books

The Sweet Spot

The Sweet Spot: Suffering, Pleasure and the Key to a Good Life

Vintage

The Human Mind: A Brief Tour of Everything We Know

AGAINST EMPATHY

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

Bodley Head

Are you a human? Do you have a mind? Then this book is for you.\nNothing is more familiar and yet less understood than the human mind. It defines the experience of being human, and yet its workings contain some of the deepest mysteries ever encountered. Written by one of the world's greatest teachers of psychology, The Human Mind provides a masterful and riveting guide to all that we have learned since modern science began probing those mysteries.\nHow does a three-pound lump of grey-ish meat give rise to conscious experience? 
What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude and shame? 
How do our biases affect us and how can we overcome them? 
How does the mind of a child differ from that of an adult? 
How does memory work? What causes mental illness? 
Are we rational? Are we all a little bit racist? 
What makes us kind? What makes us cruel? 
What makes us happy?\nMany of these questions now have answers; many others don't yet; many widely accepted theories are probably wrong. This book takes us to the very limits of what is known. It shines new light on all that you take most for granted: everything you think and feel, everything you say and do, everything that makes you you.

The Bodley Head, Ltd.

The Human Mind

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Books by Paul Bloom