What Is Man?

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What Is Man?

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Carl Reiner

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About this listen

Locked in his desk for 25 years, What Is Man? was Twain's most serious, philosophical, and private work. The narrative appears in the form of a Socratic dialogue between a romantic young idealist and an elderly cynic. The pair debate issues of mankind, such as whether man is free to act or is more of a machine, whether personal merit is meaningless given how the environment shapes us, and if man truly has impulses other than to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. An unflinching critic of human affection, a bittersweet humorist, and a master of comic asides, Mark Twain speaks to us across time with verve and wisdom in this rare work. This recording is performed by comedy legend Carl Reiner, a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Public Domain (P)2001 Phoenix Books

Essays

Philosophy

Nonfiction

Witty