"Precht moves between his various topics with the easy style of Alain de Botton...
A remarkably informative and lively read." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Precht takes his title from the ravings of a drunken friend. But he takes the framework for his wide-ranging inquiry from a stone-cold sober Immanuel Kant, who reduced the philosophic project to four questions: What can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for? What is man? But inebriated friend and sober philosopher share an interest in the human experience, an experience Precht illuminates by showing that no matter how much modern neuroscience and psychology may have reframed Kant's first three questions, it is sill the philosopher who must supply the final answers...Readers learn, for instance, that while neuroscientists can explain the biochemistry involved when the brain acquires new knowledge, only philosophy can interpret the way the human self distills knowledge in language and moral judgment. Similar reasoning demonstrates why the philosopher seeking understanding must move beyond brain mapping to explain morality and beyond hormones to fathom love...serious readers everywhere will appreciate a book that restores philosophy to contemporary relevance." --"Booklist ("starred review)
