Works by
Stephen G. Post, Ph.D.
(Writer)

Altruism and Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research (2007)
We're all quite familiar with the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, who was miserable in his selfishness, but later became happy when he began helping others. Ebenezer's story is compelling, but is it true that helping others is good for the giver? Although numerous studies have demonstrated that people experience health benefits when treated kindly and compassionately, do those who provide love to others also experience health benefits? In other words, is it at least as good to give as to receive? Does virtue actually have its own rewards? To answer these questions, Altruism and Health brings research in biology, psychiatry, psychology, gerontology, epidemiology, and public health. Much of this research shows that unselfish individuals will find life to be more meaningful, will usually be happier than their selfish counterparts, and will often experience better mental health. Some of this research also finds that unselfish individuals have reduced mortality rates and better physical health. Evolutionary and biological models help to explain these results by elucidating why a person who gives generously to others might live a more functional, happier, and healthier life. There is, however, an obvious caveat: those who allow themselves to be overwhelmed by care giving will often suffer from the stressful burden of care. These findings challenge the shibboleth that being altruistic has either negative consequences or no benefits. This volume presents the first unified, empirical argument that an individual can live a generous life, without concern for reciprocity or reputational gain, and as a by-product, discover deeper relationships, happiness, health, and even longevity. In doing so, it raises the most essential and perennial questions of moral psychology and the good life.

Why Good Things Happen to Good People: The Exciting New Research that Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life (2007) with Jill Neimark
Dr. Stephen Post has been making headlines by funding studies at the nation’s top universities to prove once and for all the life-enhancing benefits of caring, kindness, and compassion. The exciting new research shows that when we give of ourselves, especially if we start young, everything from life-satisfaction to self-realization and physical health is significantly affected. Mortality is delayed. Depression is reduced. Well-being and good fortune are increased. In their life-changing new book, Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Dr. Post and journalist Jill Neimark weave the growing new science of love and giving with profoundly moving real-life stories to show exactly how giving unlocks the doors to health, happiness, and a longer life.

The astounding new research includes a fifty-year study showing that people who are giving during their high school years have better physical and mental health throughout their lives. Other studies show that older people who give live longer than those who don’t. Helping others has been shown to bring health benefits to those with chronic illness, including HIV, multiple sclerosis, and heart problems. And studies show that people of all ages who help others on a regular basis, even in small ways, feel happiest.

Why Good Things Happen to Good People offers ten ways to give of yourself, in four areas of life, all proven by science to improve your health and even add to your life expectancy. (And not one requires you to write a check.) The one-of-a-kind “Love and Longevity Scale” scores you on all ten ways, from volunteering to listening, loyalty to forgiveness, celebration to standing up for what you believe in. Using the lessons and guidelines in each chapter, you can create a personalized plan for a more generous life, finding the style of giving that suits you best.

The astonishing connection between generosity and health is so convincing that it will inspire readers to change their lives in ways big and small. Get started today. A longer, healthier, happier life awaits you.

The Fountain of Youth: Cultural, Scientific, and Ethical Perspectives on a Biomedical Goal (2004), Robert H. Binstock and Stephen G. Post, eds.
A wide variety of ambitions and measures to slow, stop, and reverse phenomena associated with aging have been part of human culture since early civilization. From alchemy to cell injections to dietary supplements, the list of techniques aimed at altering the processes of aging continues to expand. Charlatans, quacks, and entrepreneurs proffering anti-aging products and practices have always exploited uniformed customers and instilled doubt and apprehension toward practices intended to extend life. Recently, however, the pursuit of longevity has developed into a respectable scientific activity. Many biologists are substantially funded by the government and the private sector to conduct research that they believe will lead to effective anti-aging interventions. While many embrace this quest for "prolongevity"--extended youth and long life--others fear its consequences. If effective anti-aging interventions were achieved, they would likely bring about profound alterations in the experiences of individual and collective life. What if aging could be decelerated to the extent that both average life expectancy and maximum life span would increase by forty percent? What if all humans could live to be centenarians, free of the chronic diseases and disabilities now commonly associated with old age? What if modern scientists could find the modern equivalent to the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon sought? This book addresses these questions by exploring the ramifications of possible anti-aging interventions on both individual and collective life. Through a series of essays, it examines the biomedical goal of prolongevity from cultural, scientific, religious, and ethical perspectives, offering a sweeping view into the future of aging.

Human Nature and the Freedom of Public Religious Expression (2003)
Drawing on current research in science and religion, distinguished bioethicist Stephen G. Post provocatively argues that human beings are, by nature, inclined toward a presence in the universe that is higher than their own. In consequence, the institutions of everyday life, such as schools, the workplace, and the public square, are not justified in censoring the spiritual and religious expression that freely arises from the wellspring of the human spirit.
Post believes that the privatization of religious expression, coupled with the imposition of a secular monism, is a departure from true liberal democracy in which citizens are free to assert themselves in ways that manifest their full nature. Utilizing research in the neurosciences, psychiatry, the social sciences, and evolutionary psychology, he provides scientific information supporting the idea, familiar to theories of natural law, that religious expression and freedom are essential human goods. In developing this perspective, Post also engages in a critical conversation with secular existentialism.

Human Nature and the Freedom of Public Religious Expression offers an alternative to the views of political philosophers such as Richard Rorty, and educators such as John Dewey, who fail to acknowledge the unique contribution that religious language, when thoughtfully implemented, makes to the tone and content of public debate and education. Post’s perspective privileges no particular religion, but rather asks that adherents to all faiths, including secularism, be allowed freely to express their core values in a civil, respectful, and public manner. Post calls for a recovery of the full meaning of liberal democracy in all domains of public life, so that we might again discover the value of freedom of expression.

Research on Altruism and Love: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Studies in Psychology, Sociology, Evolutionary Biology, and Theology (2003), Byron Johnson, Jeffrey P. Schloss, Michael E. McCullough,  and Stephen G. Post
Research on Altruism and Love is a compendium of annotated bibliographies reviewing literature and research studies on the nature of love. An essay introduces each of the annotated bibliographies.

A variety of literature either directly related to science-and-love issues or supporting literature for those issues is covered in the Religious Love Interfaces with Science section. This annotated bibliography is unique in that it approaches the field from a decidedly religious perspective. It includes classical expositions of love that continue to influence contemporary scholars, including Plato's’ work on eros, the work and words of Jesus, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, Kierkegaard, and Ghandi, among others. The contemporary discussion includes Anders Nygren’s theological arguments in his classic, Agape and Eros; Pitirim Sorokin; and others. An issue that often emerges in this literature is the question of the nature and definition of love.

A second annotated bibliography features current empirical research in the field of Personality and Altruism, with a focus on social psychology. Among the topics covered are the altruistic personality, altruistic behavior, empathy, helping behavior, social responsibility, and volunteerism. Methodologies are diverse, and studies include experiments, local and national surveys, naturalistic observation, and combinations of these.

The Evolutionary Biology annotated bibliography covers the most significant works on altruism and love in the field of biology and evolutionary psychology.

The fourth and final annotated bibliography in this volume is entitled Sociology of Faith-Based Volunteerism. Here the focus is on literature on the interface of helping behavior and religious organizations, as well as major pieces on voluntary associations.

Unlimited Love: Altruism, Compassion, and Service (2003)
What if we could prove that love heals mental illness and is vital to successful therapeutic outcomes in all areas of health care? What if we could prove that people who live more for others than for self have greater psychological well-being?
Professor Stephen G. Post, who heads the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, is developing a new positive scientific program that integrates practice with high-level empirical research and religious-ethical ideas in order to explore these questions. The goal is to understand how our complex brains, unique imaginations, communicative abilities, reasoning powers, moral sense, and spiritual promptings give rise to the remarkable practice of unselfish love for our neighbors—or for those we do not even know.

In Unlimited Love, Post examines the question of what we mean by "unlimited love"; his focus is not on "falling" into love, which is "altogether natural, easy, and delusional." Rather, he focuses on the difficult learned ascent that "begins with insight into the need for tolerance of ubiquitous imperfection, and matures into unselfish concern, gratitude, and compassion." He considers social scientific and evolutionary perspectives on human altruistic motivations, and he analyzes these perspectives in a wide interdisciplinary context at the interface of science, ethics, and religion.

Teilhard de Chardin commented that the scientific understanding of the power of unselfish love would be as significant in human history as the discovery of fire.

In Unlimited Love, Stephen Post presents an argument for the creation of a new interdisciplinary field for the study of love and unlimited love, "engaging great minds and hoping to shape the human future away from endless acrimony, hatred, and violence."

Altruism & Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy & Religion in Dialogue (2002), Jeffrey Schloss, Lynn G. Underwood, Stephen Garrard Post, and William B. Hurlbut, eds.
The concept of altruism, or disinterested concern for another's welfare, has been discussed by everyone from theologians to psychologists to biologists. In this book, evolutionary, neurological, developmental, psychological, social, cultural, and religious aspects of altruistic behavior are examined. It is a collaborative examination of one of humanity's essential and defining characteristics by renowned researchers from various disciplines. Their integrative dialogue illustrates that altruistic behavior is a significant mode of expression that can be studied by various scholarly methods and understood from a variety of perspectives in both the humanities and the sciences. Altruism and Altruistic Love establishes a framework for scholarship on altruism by presenting definitions, a historical overview, a review of contemporary research, and debates in various disciplines, as well as a discussion of directions for future work.

More Lasting Unions: Christianity, the Family and Society (Religion, Marriage, & Family) (2000)
A powerful reassertion of the social and spiritual significance of marriage and the family. Many recent social theorists maintain that marriage and the nuclear family are not particularly important to the fabric of our culture. In this powerful refutation, grounded in both Christian teaching and social-science data, Stephen G. Post asserts that the bonds of marriage and family are fundamental to our social and spiritual well-being. Unique in the field for its wide treatment of relevant issues, More Lasting Unions also takes up these important topics: the special needs of children and of aging parents; adoption as an alternative way of family building; the perils of family self-indulgence and consumerism; balancing family commitments and concern for neighbors.

Genetic Testing for Alzheimer Disease: Ethical and Clinical Issues (1998), Peter J. Whitehouse and Stephen G. Post, eds.
The genetics of Alzheimer disease has been a point of intense concern and immense informational confusion for families in which a loved one is diagnosed with dementia. In recent years, however, scientists have begun to uncover the genetic bases for some forms of Alzheimer disease. Once a chromosomal defect is identified, it becomes possible to devise a test for its presence. The far-reaching implications of such tests are the focus of the present volume.

In Genetic Testing for Alzheimer Disease, Stephen G. Post and Peter J. Whitehouse bring together experts from the fields of ethics, genetics, policy, neurology, philosophy, and anthropology to examine the ethical and social aspects of genetic testing for Alzheimer disease. The authors begin by focusing on current genetic findings and their clinical applicability. They then address ethical issues in genetic testing and genetic counseling for Alzheimer disease. They examine social issues such as confidentiality, discrimination, and fairness in health care. Finally, they discuss ways to educate professionals and laypeople regarding these issues.

The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying (1995, 2000)
Society today, writes Stephen Post, is "hypercognitive": it places inordinate emphasis on people's powers of rational thinking and memory. Thus, Alzheimer disease and other dementias, which over an extended period incrementally rob patients of exactly those functions, raise many dilemmas. How are we to view--and value--persons deprived of what some consider the most important human capacities?

In the second edition of The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease, Post updates his highly praised account of the major ethical issues relating to dementia care. With chapters organized to follow the progression from mild to severe and then terminal stages of dementia, Post discusses topics including the experience of dementia, family caregiving, genetic testing for Alzheimer disease, quality of life, and assisted suicide and euthanasia. New to this edition are sections dealing with end-of-life issues (especially artificial nutrition and hydration), the emerging cognitive-enhancing drugs, distributive justice, spirituality, and hospice, as well as a critique of rationalistic definitions of personhood. The last chapter is a new summary of practical solutions useful to family members and professionals.

Spheres of Love: Toward a New Ethics of the Family (1994)

Inquiries in Bioethics (1993)

Dementia and Aging: Ethics, Values, and Policy Choices (1992), Peter J. Whitehouse, Robert H. Binstock, AND Stephen G. Post, eds.
Several million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementing disorder. For families, professional caregivers, policy makers, and the patients themselves, the challenges are immense and the economic costs are staggering. In Dementia and Aging Robert H. Binstock, Stephen G. Post, and Peter J. Whitehouse bring together experts in gerontology, geriatrics, psychiatry, neurology, nursing, ethics, philosophy, public policy, and law to examine the ethical, moral, and policy controversies surrounding dementia.

The authors first present background information on dementia and related ethical and policy issues. The remainder of the book is divided into three parts. Part One conveys the difficulties experienced by dementia patients and their caregivers. Part Two deals with ethical and moral issues involved in decisions regarding treatment and care, including the highly controversial subject of euthanasia. Part Three lays out societal choices regarding the allocation of resources for treatment, care, and research on dementia.

Too Old for Health Care?: Controversies in Medicine, Law, Economics, and Ethics (1991), Robert H. Binstock and Stephen G. Post, eds.

A Theory of Agape: On the Meaning of Christian Love (1990)

Christian Love and Self-denial (1987)

Encyclopedia of Bioethics (1980)
Five volume set.