Tom Lovett

Why do liberals and conservatives differ so consistently on such varied issues? Why do people fight so bitterly over political and religious issues? Don't our shared human interests outweigh our differences? Tom Lovett looked for answers in the natural sciences, in the social sciences, and in the humanities. Over time, he linked key knowledge from those three sources into a theory of the art of living, a theory that honors our shared human interests. Select Quotations on the Art of Living (2024) outlines that theory and uses quotations from eminent authors to illustrate it. His earlier book, Creating Beautiful Lives (2020), presents details of the theory. In the proposed theory, we learn skills in the art of living and create beautiful lives by doing three things: Seeking the ancient ideals: beauty, truth, and goodness. Essential dictionary meanings of those three words can help us seek them. Seeking those ideals while engaging in our most basic behavior. Like other animals, we create living space, obtain food, eat, court, have sex, parent, groom, play, build, form social bonds, fight, flee, and sleep. Seeking those ideals through art, science, and religion. Unlike other animals, we can modify our behavior with artistic skill, with scientific knowledge, and with religious devotion and inspiration. Art can be a path toward beauty, science a path toward truth, and religion a path toward goodness. Each path can eventually lead toward all three. We become artistic by refining a skill sufficiently. We become scientific by evaluating a theory rigorously and finding it adequately reliable or false. We become religious by devoting ourselves thoroughly to an activity, idea, group, or interest, and/or by joining an organized religion. We can learn everyday forms and specialized forms of art, science, and religion. Everyday forms modify our basic behavior, and everyone can learn them. The specialized forms are fine art (painting, sculpture, writing, singing, music, dance, theater, and many more), social and natural science, and organized religion. Everyone can value those specialties and choose whether and how to participate in them. The proposed theory reconciles realism about our animal nature with idealism about our highest human potential. The art of living becomes our way of life, and the human species becomes one human family. We live in peace and harmony with one another, with other species, and with nature. We are at home on the earth and in the universe.

Originally published in 1982, this book discusses the role of adult education in social and community action. In particular it presents a critical assessment of 'community education' and the theories of Illich, Freire and Gramsci and it proves that there is a radical adult education tradition in the USA, Europe and North America which can offer many insights into the contemporary debate about the role of adult learning. The material is based on a decade of practical involvement in community action and education in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where - despite deep political and religious divisions - community action has united Catholics and Protestants in a common resolve.

Countless writers celebrate the art of daily living and inspire us to create beautiful lives. This book unifies many of their ideas in a theory based on our animal nature. As members of the species Homo sapiens, we engage in behavior that other animals engage in. Our learning ability lets us modify our behavior in unlimited ways: good, bad, or a mix. But do we understand this potential well enough to always choose good options? What if an ideal way of life exists? If it does, and we find it, wouldn't we choose our activities and lifestyle more wisely? In the author's theory of an ideal way of life, we modify our most basic behavior with artistic skills, scientific discoveries, and religious experiences. Let's test that theory and see whether it works. If it does, we can use it to create a science of the art of living. The nature-nurture debate is the larger academic context of this book. This debate concerns whether our lives are more influenced by our animal nature or by the social nurturing we receive. Most scientists agree that nature and nurture interact as we learn and grow, but arguments sometimes occur. The social science proposed in this book will, if verified, end those debates. That science links the sciences and the humanities, thereby simplifying interdisciplinary studies.

Countless writers celebrate the art of daily living and inspire us to create beautiful lives. This book unifies many of their ideas in a theory based on our animal nature. As members of the species Homo sapiens, we engage in behavior that other animals engage in. Our learning ability lets us modify our behavior in unlimited ways: good, bad, or a mix. But do we understand this potential well enough to always choose good options? What if an ideal way of life exists? If it does, and we find it, wouldn't we choose our activities and lifestyle more wisely? In the author's theory of an ideal way of life, we modify our most basic behavior with artistic skills, scientific discoveries, and religious experiences. Let's test that theory and see whether it works. If it does, we can use it to create a science of the art of living. The nature-nurture debate is the larger academic context of this book. This debate concerns whether our lives are more influenced by our animal nature or by the social nurturing we receive. Most scientists agree that nature and nurture interact as we learn and grow, but arguments sometimes occur. The social science proposed in this book will, if verified, end those debates. That science links the sciences and the humanities, thereby simplifying interdisciplinary studies.

Originally published in 1982, this book discusses the role of adult education in social and community action. In particular it presents a critical assessment of 'community education' and the theories of Illich, Freire and Gramsci and it proves that there is a radical adult education tradition in the USA, Europe and North America which can offer many insights into the contemporary debate about the role of adult learning. The material is based on a decade of practical involvement in community action and education in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where - despite deep political and religious divisions - community action has united Catholics and Protestants in a common resolve.