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A review by bootman
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein
3.0
I think one of the most important things we can do is read books with opinions that challenge our views. It's easy to read books that agree with us, but it's difficult to read an entire book from someone with an opposing viewpoint. I do this because we all succumb to biases, and we need the opposition to show us things we might be missing. As someone who is Pro-Green New Deal and renewable energy, I decided to read this book. I also thought it'd be interesting because I love moral philosophy. With that being said, this book was terrible. I went into it with as much good faith as possible, and the author is definitely smart, but this book is filled with weak arguments and cherry-picking of data.
I could write an entire essay picking apart this book. Instead, for this review, I'll just take his premise and strongest argument. It can be summed up with a quote from the end of the book:
"We don't need to save the planet from human beings; we need to save the planet for human beings. We need to say this loudly and proudly. We need to say [that] human life is our one and only standard of value."
Alex Epstein comes from a moral position that humans are the most important creatures, so we can do whatever we want. If you believe that humans are more important than plants and animals and we should just destroy them for our convenience, this book is for you. But, if you're someone with a wider scope of morality, you'll choose to work towards other solutions that help us live in harmony with nature rather than destroying it because we're at the top of the food chain.
I could write an entire essay picking apart this book. Instead, for this review, I'll just take his premise and strongest argument. It can be summed up with a quote from the end of the book:
"We don't need to save the planet from human beings; we need to save the planet for human beings. We need to say this loudly and proudly. We need to say [that] human life is our one and only standard of value."
Alex Epstein comes from a moral position that humans are the most important creatures, so we can do whatever we want. If you believe that humans are more important than plants and animals and we should just destroy them for our convenience, this book is for you. But, if you're someone with a wider scope of morality, you'll choose to work towards other solutions that help us live in harmony with nature rather than destroying it because we're at the top of the food chain.