Columnist David Brooks of the NYTimes today puts on his social psychology hat and a couple of other disciplinary caps to make an opening argument for something that he calls “The New Humanism.” He wants us to start thinking and acting differently in order to make better decisions for ourselves and the rest of humankind. I’d feel better about his advice if he used his soapbox to call a few more fouls and game-misconduct penalties on the anti-intellectual and just plain mean types in the political arena that he gets lumped with whether he seeks that or not. I learned a new word from him today: “limerance.” Check it out in his column here, and get the NYT if you want more of this kind of writing.

This all ties in to Brooks’ new book “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” which was recently reviewed in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

David Brooks (Web photo courtesy of Chronicle of Higher Education)