About Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, author, and podcast host. His work includes a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, determinism, 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. 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. He has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation (2006); The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (2010); the essay Lying (2011); the short book Free Will (2012); Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014); and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue (2015). His work has been translated into over 20 languages. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up). He also launched a meditation app called Waking Up, promoting secular mindfulness practices. Harris has debated with many prominent figures on religion, including Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Robert Wright, Rick Warren, William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson and Deepak Chopra. Some critics have argued that Harris's writings and public statements on Islam are Islamophobic; Harris and his supporters reject that characterization, arguing instead that the label is sometimes used to silence criticism. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. In September 2020, Harris announced his commitment to donate at least 10% of Waking Up's profits to highly effective charities, thus becoming the first company to sign the Giving What We Can pledge for companies. While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with MDMA.
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