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Burton Porter

Burton Porter earned his Ph.D. at St. Andrews University (Scotland), which included graduate studies at Oxford University. He has been on the faculty at several institutions including Drexel University, Russell Sage College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Maryland (European Division). At present, he teaches philosophy at Western New England University.Dr. Porter writes both academic and fiction works, and has published a number of books as well as papers and reviews. Among his recent book publications are: Finding Your Own Philosophy of Life, Algora (2016); The Age of Disinformation: A Contempt for Truth; Authenticity; Forbidden Knowledge; African Metaphor; The Good Life: Options In Ethics; The Great Perhaps: God as a Question; What the Tortoise Taught Us; and Philosophy Through Film.He received the award of Outstanding Educator of America, and the Faculty Research Award at Western New England University. He lives outside Amherst. MA with his wife, Barbara, and has a son, Mark, a daughter, Ans, and a stepdaughter, Sarah. His interests range from philosophy to music to literature.

The Still Center

The Still Center

A Philosophy for Our Time

Price range: $19.95 through $29.95

We can enjoy a fulfilling life under all sorts of circumstances, finding or creating a purpose, goal or meaning for our own unique existence, and developing an appreciation for the beauty and variety of experiences and impressions life presents. Prof.

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Prof. Burton Porter offers signposts for a satisfying, successful life while introducing readers to a wide range of traditions in moral theory and ethics. Writing in a clear, concise way, he examines our present attitudes and values with full 21st-century awareness and identifies approaches to our life that can create a fulfilling existence.

About the Book

We can enjoy a fulfilling life under all sorts of circumstances, finding or creating a purpose, goal or meaning for our own unique existence, and developing an appreciation for the beauty and variety of experiences and impressions life presents. Prof. Burton Porter examines our present attitudes and values, and offers signposts for a successful life. Some are consistent with our current direction; others are at variance with contemporary trends. But with full, 21st-century awareness, the author points to dimensions of human beings that can be realized to create a fulfilling existence.In so doing, he introduces readers to a wealth of poetic and literary perspectives and delivers a clear explication of a wide range of traditions in moral theory and ethics.Writing in a clear, concise way, the author invites everyone to consider how to set today’s values and sensibilities into a broader framework of thought, and to ponder how to construct a satisfying, worthy self in the midst of chaotic social changes. Along the way he quickly introduces many of the major trends of Western philosophy, great thinkers from the Ancient Greeks to today. The book shows readers how to see the relevance today of pragmatism, formalism, relativism, postmodernism, logic and sophistry, and realism vs. idealism, and modern classics such as Mills and Hume.

Table content

1. Our Age of Science and Technology2. Body and Soul, Heaven and Earth3. The Decline of Religion4. The Place of Values in a World of Fact5. Intention, Consequence, and the Worth of Action6. Good and Bad: Relative or Objective?7. Reality As Self-Constructed8. Is Art a Matter of Taste?9. Our Post-Truth Era10. Doing What’s Right When It Does No Good11. Character and Duty12. Pleasure As the Goal in Life13. Pursuing Happiness for Everyone14. Nature As the Model of Existence15. The Culture Wars: A Divided Nation16. The Still Center

About the Book

In a world where science dominates, religion is fading, and truth itself feels up for debate, philosopher Burton Porter asks a deceptively simple question: how do we actually live well? The Still Center is his answer — a wide-ranging, accessible tour through the big questions of ethics, meaning, and human flourishing that manages to feel urgent rather than dusty.

Porter, a longtime philosophy professor, takes seriously the cultural moment we're in. He opens by mapping how thoroughly the modern world has become materialist — where algorithms carry more weight than intuition, financial success has become "life's report card," and even churchgoers tend to be practical on weekdays. From there he works through topics that genuinely matter to ordinary readers: whether morality is relative or objective, what role pleasure should play in a good life, how character and duty shape our choices, and whether happiness is something we pursue for ourselves or for everyone.

The book draws on a broad range of philosophical traditions — from Stoicism and utilitarianism to existentialism — and weaves in literature and poetry, including a well-chosen epigraph from W.B. Yeats. Porter also tackles the post-truth era directly, treating it not as a political talking point but as a genuine philosophical problem about how we know what's real.

This isn't a self-help book dressed up in academic clothes. It's a serious but genuinely readable invitation to think more carefully about values, purpose, and what it means to find a still center in a chaotic time.

Additional information

Weight N/A
Book Type Ebook, ePub, Hard cover, Soft cover
Pages

172
Release Year

BISAC I

PHI035000 PHILOSOPHY / Essays

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