Human Goodness

by Yi-Fu Tuan

In his many best-selling books, Yi-Fu Tuan seizes big, metaphysical issues and considers them in uniquely accessible ways. Human Goodness is evidence of this talent and is both as simple, and as epic, as it sounds.            Genuinely good people and their actions, Tuan contends, are far from boring, naive, and trite; they are complex, varied, and enormously exciting. In a refreshing antidote to skeptical times, he writes of ordinary human courtesies, as simple as busing your dishes after eating, that make society functional and livable. And he writes of extraordinary courage and inventiveness under the weight of adversity and evil. He considers the impact of communal goodness over time, and his sketches of six very different individuals—Confucius, Socrates, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Keats, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and Simone Weil—confirm that there are human lives that can encourage and lead us to our better selves. Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association

Genres: Philosophy

232 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2008

About the author

Fu Tuan (Traditional Chinese: 段義孚, born 5 December 1930) is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.
Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China. Tuan attended University College, London, but graduated from the University of Oxford with a B.A. and M.A. in 1951 and 1955 respectively. From there he went to California to continue his geographic education. He received his Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

[Arjun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 1 & 2: 2⭐
Chapter 3: 4⭐
Chapter 4: 5⭐

[Lee Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would be a worthwhile read if only for the final chapter “Reflections”, so useful in today’s world. I’m not sure how Mozart made the cut, but I’ll take it such as it is, on the basis of his character flaws informing his overall goodness.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

A monotonous ramble. Abandoned about 80 pages in.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable essay on what it means to be human and how we define goodness.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

a kind of philosophical meditation on what it means to be a 'good' person...as you know this is a favorite author of mine...