Sam Harris

For other people with the same name, see Sam Harris (disambiguation).

Sam Harris
Harris in 2016
Harris in 2016
BornSamuel Benjamin Harris
(1967-04-09) April 9, 1967 (age 57)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Author
  • podcaster
Education
GenreNonfiction
SubjectNeuroscience, philosophy,[1] religion, spirituality, ethics, politics
Notable awards
Spouse
​
(m. 2004)​
Children2
Parents
Signature
Philosophy career
EraContemporary philosophy
Region
ThesisThe moral landscape: How science could determine human values (2009)
Doctoral advisorMark Cohen
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Website
samharris.org

Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and he is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.[2][3][4]

Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation in 2006, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in 2010, the long-form essay Lying in 2011, the short book Free Will in 2012, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion in 2014, and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue in 2015. Harris's work has been translated into over 20 languages. Some critics have argued that Harris's writings are Islamophobic.[5] Harris and his supporters, however, reject this characterization,[6] adding that such a labeling is an attempt to silence criticism.[7]

Harris has debated with many prominent figures on the topics of God or religion, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Rick Warren, Robert Wright, Andrew Sullivan, Cenk Uygur, Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Deepak Chopra, Ben Shapiro, and Peter Singer. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up), which has a large listenership. Around 2018, he was described as one of the marginalized "renegade" intellectuals,[8] though Harris disagreed with that characterization.[9][10] In September 2018, Harris released a meditation app, Waking Up with Sam Harris[a]. He is also considered a prominent figure in the Mindfulness movement, promoting meditation practices without the need for any religious beliefs.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference pardi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Madigan, Tim (2010). "Meet the New Atheism / Same as the Old Atheism?". Philosophy Now. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  3. ^ Bullivant, Stephen; Ruse, Michael, eds. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Atheism. Oxford University Press (OUP). p. 246. ISBN 978-0-19-964465-0. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference BJJ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Greenwald, Glen (April 3, 2013). "Sam Harris, the New Atheists, and anti-Muslim animus", The Guardian.
  6. ^ Religion, Politics, Free Speech | Sam Harris | ACADEMIA | Rubin Report from the YouTube channel The Rubin Report, September 11, 2015.
  7. ^ "Atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris face Islamophobia backlash", The Independent, April 13, 2013.
  8. ^ Weiss, Bari (May 8, 2018). "Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  9. ^ Nguyen, Tina; Goldenberg, Sally (March 15, 2021). "How Yang charmed the right on his road to political stardom". Politico.
  10. ^ "#225 – Republic of Lies". YouTube. November 18, 2020. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Salon-Sam was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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