Sam Harris

Sam Harris (b. 1967) is an American author, neuroscientist, and public intellectual, holding a BA in philosophy from Stanford and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. He rose to prominence with The End of Faith (2004), written in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, which argued that religious moderation provides cover for fundamentalism and that faith-based belief is uniquely dangerous in a world of weapons of mass destruction. Letter to a Christian Nation (2006) extended this polemic against American evangelicalism. Together with Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens, Harris became identified as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism. In The Moral Landscape (2010) he defended a controversial form of moral realism grounded in neuroscience, arguing that science can determine human values—a thesis widely criticized by philosophers including Russell Blackford and Massimo Pigliucci for conflating ought and is. Waking Up (2014) develops a secular account of contemplative practice influenced by Theravāda Buddhism and Advaita Vedānta. Harris has been criticized for his statements on Islam, profiling, and torture, notably by Glenn Greenwald and Reza Aslan, who accuse him of essentialism. His debates with William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, and others have circulated widely. He hosts the Making Sense podcast.