A standard introductory textbook focusing on the scientific roots of the field while emphasizing its practical value and relevance to society. The first edition was published in 1989. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Spanish novel in a turbulent century.

Too often we're guided by what we last heard, by our friends' approval, by impulse—our desires, our fears. Without reflection. Without even stopping to think. In this book you'll learn how to reason and find your way better in life. You'll learn to see the consequences of what you and others say and do. You'll learn to see the assumptions that you and others make. You'll learn how to judge what you should believe. These are the skills we all need to make good decisions. Illustrations using a cast of cartoon characters make the concepts memorable. And many exercises will help you to check your understanding. Truly a book for all—from high school to graduate school, from auto repair to managing a company. "How to Reason" will help you find a way in life that is clearer and not buffetted by the winds of nonsense and fear.

En este libro innovador, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, y Clare Aukofer, ofrecen un estudio completo pero sucinto de cómo y por qué la mente humana genera la creencia religiosa. Dr. Thomson, un psiquiatra muy respetado con credenciales y práctica en psiquiatría forense y psicología evolutiva, investiga metódicamente los componentes y las causas de las creencias religiosas de la misma manera que cualquier científico investigaría el movimiento de los cuerpos celestes o la evolución de la vida a través del tiempo, es decir, como un fenómeno puramente natural. Proporcionando evidencia convincente de la psicología, las neurociencias cognitivas, y otros campos relacionados, él, y la Sra. Aukofer, presentan un caso convincente de fácil acceso y con carácter excepcional que dios (es) fueron creados por el hombre, y no viceversa. Con este libro de bolsillo, el Dr. Thomson se establece como un pensador de lectura obligatoria y la voz líder en la primacía de la razón y de la ciencia sobre la superstición y la religión. In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson Jr., MD, and Clare Aukofer offer a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

The book is organized around four sections. The first section is an introduction to the problem of defining the scope and foundations of the development of moral personality and social engagement, in particular, the development of civic and ethical attitudes and prosocial behavior. The second section presents a comparative analysis of education policies in Mexico, Chile and Colombia, in particular the way the curricula of civic and citizenship education is designed and implemented. The section also describes and analyzes the way this subject is taught in the classrooms of the primary, secondary and high school levels in the three countries. The third section includes the results of research projects in Civics and Citizenship Education conducted with different theoretical and methodological models of analysis. This last section includes some of the best practices of Civic Education that have been developed in Mexico, Colombia, and Chile.