Philosophy for a better world

"In this illuminating book, Dutch philosopher Floris van den Berg suggests this compelling thought experiment as a way of inviting readers to take a moral journey, which in turn leads to an inconvenient evaluation of the way most of us live. He proposes a new perspective, called universal subjectivism, which can be adopted by anyone regardless of religious or philosophical orientation. It takes into consideration the universal capacity for suffering and, through raising awareness, seeks to diminish that suffering and increase happiness. With consistent and crystal clear moral reasoning, van den Berg shows that the world can be organized to ensure more pleasure, beauty, justice, happiness, health, freedom, animal welfare, and sustainability. Van den Berg emphasizes that today the near-term future is our greatest challenge: our affluent western lifestyle will soon exceed the limits of the earth's sustainable capacity and must soon change drastically to ward off a worldwide environmental collapse..."--Publisher description.

Introduction to a better world (Less suffering, more happiness ; Reevaluating every value ; Good society ; Universal subjectivism in a nutshell ; Fortuitousness of existence) -- Learning to think philosophically (About philosophy ; Scientific philosophy ; All hands on deck ; How to become a philosopher without reading Kant ; Thinking philosophically is not "Anything goes" ; Laws, rules, and traffic regulations ; New golden rule) -- Universal subjectivism as thought experiment (Introduction ; Why act ethically? ; Expanding circle of morality ; Suppose you're in a wheelchair ; Suppose you're a woman in Saudi Arabia ; Suppose you're homosexual ; Suppose you're a coffee farmer in Ethiopia ; Suppose you're a cow ; Suppose you're born in a low-income country ; Suppose you're born five hundred years from now ; Suppose you're Anne Frank) -- Open society (Pluralism ; Education and parenting ; Freedom of expression ; Good life) -- Toward a better world (Ecosophy : toward a minimum ecologic al consensus) -- Eco-humanist manifesto (Toward a sustainable future ; To a better world in eleven steps ; Humanism : thinking for yourself, living together ; Moral of the story : less suffering, more hap…