The House We Live in

Reviews (pre-publication) It would hardly be an exaggeration to call this brilliant and beautiful book one of the most important works of our time. In my view, it should certainly rank as one of the wisest. Looking deeply into today's social, cultural, and political crises, the author points to the compelling need to re-envision the perennial moral and intellectual virtues as the indispensable key to human flourishing in both the personal and communal dimensions of our lives. His close and careful analysis of these virtues, and their connection with well-being, shows us what we must do to emerge intact from the confusion and conflicts of our age. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist scholar and translator of Pali Buddhist texts Segall is a gifted writer with encyclopedic knowledge, keen insights, and flowing prose. The reading public who are concerned about the general state of affairs in America should be very interested in this book. It is full of sensible examples and free from academic jargon while thoughtfully engaging great ancient thinkers from different cultural and intellectual milieus, i.e., Aristotelian, Confucian, and Buddhist, for alternative sources of virtues and values at this moment of our history. Tao Jiang, Ph.D., author of Origins of Political-Moral Thought in Early China Through a rich and rigorous synthesis of flourishing-based ethical perspectives, Seth Zuihō Segall offers insights and inspiration from religious and secular traditions both past and present. To address our increasingly global crisis, we urgently need the kind of globally informed ethics that this book provides. Stephen Batchelor, author of After Buddhism: Reimagining the Dharma in a Secular Age Talk of ""multiculturalism"" and of ""the virtues"" are often seen as incompatible. ""Multiculturalism"" is a slogan of contemporary liberals, while conservatives bemoan the loss of our traditional ""virtues."" Segall's The House We Live In is an exciting attempt to bring multicultural liberalism into dialogue with classic accounts of virtues like wisdom, courage, and justice. Segall makes an ambitious attempt to show that the freedom offered by multicultural liberalism has to be grounded in a robust account of what it is to live well and to be a good person. This provocative and timely book deserves a wide audience. Bryan W. Van Norden, James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy, Vassar College