The House We Live In

I have a new book entitled The House We Live In: Virtue, Wisdom, and Pluralism that regular readers of The Existential Buddhist will be interested in. The book explores the multiple crises imperiling American democracy and argues that progress in solving them depends on our arriving at a new consensus on what it means to be a good person and lead a good life. The book uses the commonalities underlying the Aristotelian, Buddhist, and Confucian traditions to re-imagine an ethics suitable for our time. It re-considers virtue, wisdom, and flourishing from a pragmatic perspective and addresses the problems of: 1) living together in multiracial, multi-sectarian, and multiethnic societies; 2) changing sex and gender roles, identities and norms; 3) economic inequality, political polarization, global warming, abortion, disinformation, cancel culture, the war in Ukraine and the possibility of war over Taiwan; 4) educating our children to lead flourishing lives; and 5) how to talk with each other across the cultural divide.

The book follows up on topics first introduced in previous posts on this blog here and here.

Advance Praise for The House We Live In:

“It would hardly be an exaggeration to call this brilliant and beautiful book one of the most important works of our time. In my view, it should certainly rank as one of the wisest.” Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist scholar and translator of Pali Buddhist texts

“Through a rich and rigorous synthesis of flourishing-based ethical perspectives, Seth Zuih? Segall offers insights and inspiration from religious and secular traditions both past and present … We urgently need the kind of globally informed ethics that this book provides.” Stephen Batchelor, author of After Buddhism: Reimagining the Dharma in a Secular Age

“Segall’s The House We Live In is an exciting attempt to bring multicultural liberalism into dialogue with classic accounts of virtues like wisdom, courage, and justice. Segall makes an ambitious attempt to show that the freedom offered by multicultural liberalism has to be grounded in a robust account of what it is to live well and to be a good person. This provocative and timely book deserves a wide audience.” Bryan W. Van Norden, James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy, Vassar College

“Segall is a gifted writer with encyclopedic knowledge, keen insights, and flowing prose. The reading public who are concerned about the general state of affairs in America should be very interested in this book.” Tao Jiang, Author, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China