Volume 29, Issue 2, 2019
Philosophy in an Age of Crisis, Part II
Evgeniy Bubnov
Pages 109-122
Cognitive Empathy in the Works of Sam Harris
The Olympian Gods, Mormones and Moral Values
The article attempts to analyze unconscious cognitive empathy in Sam Harris’ discourse. Harris equates the theology of Abrahamic religions with ancient mythology. However, the expulsion of the Numinous into the sphere of the transcendent, made possible by monotheism, gave impetus to the study of nature and led to what Max Weber called the Disenchantment. This Disenchantment, firstly, led to the discrediting of ancient myths, and secondly, to the scientism of Harris and his like-minded people.