What a Piece of Work: On Being Human

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Imprint Academic, 2006 - Philosophy - 139 pages

This is a small book on a large subject: What is special about human beings? Hamlet mused, 'What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how like a god!' but went on to speak of 'this quintessence of dust'. Helen Oppenheimer prefers to start with the dust and move to the glory: we really are animals -- and from these animals has come Shakespeare. People are indeed 'miserable sinners' -- and also magnificent creatures. The author does not disguise that she is a Christian theologian whose subject is ethics, but she writes equally for non-Christians. Her invitation to the reader is: Here is a way of looking at things that I find exciting and convincing -- I hope you do too.

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Contents

Only human
4
Appreciation
15
Excellence 4 Fellow creatures
23
Copyright

16 other sections not shown

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About the author (2006)

Helen Oppenheimer has written widely on philosophical theology and Christian ethics and has published eleven books.

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