Ethics & Morality Books

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism

Ron Suskind

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Ron Suskind comes a startling look at how America lost its way and at the nation's struggle, day by day, to reclaim the moral authority upon which its survival depends. From the White House to Downing Street, from the fault-line countries of South Asia to the sands of Guantánamo, Suskind offers an astonishing story that connects world leaders to the forces waging today's shadow wars and to the next generation of global citizens. Tracking down truth and hope within the Beltway and far beyond it, Suskind delivers historic disclosures with this emotionally stirring and strikingly original portrait of the post-9/11 world. In a sweeping, propulsive, and multilayered narrative, The Way of the World investigates how America relinquished the moral leadership it now desperately needs to fight the real threat of our era: a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists. Truth, justice, and accountability become more than mere words in this story. Suskind shows where the most neglected dangers lie in the story of "The Armageddon Test" —a desperate gamble to send undercover teams into the world's nuclear black market to frustrate the efforts of terrorists trying to procure weapons-grade uranium. In the end, he finally reveals for the first time the explosive falsehood underlying the Iraq War and the entire Bush presidency. While the public and political realms struggle, The Way of the World simultaneously follows an ensemble of characters in America and abroad who are turning fear and frustration into a desperate—and often daring—brand of human salvation. They include a striving, twenty-four-year-old Pakistani émigré, a fearless UN refugee commissioner, an Afghan teenager, a Holocaust survivor's son, and Benazir Bhutto, who discovers, days before her death, how she's been abandoned by the United States at her moment of greatest need. They are all testing American values at a time of peril, and discovering solutions—human solutions—to so much that has gone wrong. For anyone hoping to exercise truly informed consent and begin the process of restoring the values and hope—along with the moral clarity and earned optimism—at the heart of the American tradition, The Way of the World is a must-read.

Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within. (ROUGHCUT)

Maria Shriver

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Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Maria Shriver is wise, funny and caring--and it all comes through in her winning guide to life, JUST WHO WILL YOU BE? We're lucky to have her show us the way."
-- Tom Brokaw

"Maria teaches all of us in the graduate program of life to seek meaning through the joy of following your heart. Just the kind of advice a heart surgeon cherishes."
--Mehmet Oz, M.D.

"Everything Maria Shriver does is a testament to how deeply she respects and cares about people; all people, all over the world. She really does. She is as charming and funny as she is brilliant and profoundly humane."
--Anne Lamott

"Maria Shriver is real, vulnerable, humble, honest (just like her book) and not afraid to say so. A lovely book by a lovely person."
--Danielle Steel

"This honest, straight-talking, profound little book is worth a lifetime of reflection. It calls readers of all ages to think again-and differently-about who they've been in the past and who they want to be now. This book is a life-stopper, a truly universal piece. It's a must for everyone-of any age."
--Sister Joan Chittister

"Every graduate (of anything) ought to be given a copy of this book along with their diploma. There's wisdom, compassion and truth between these covers. For anyone -- at any age."
--Linda Ellerbee, Executive Producer, "Nick News"

"I've learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be, but who we want to be is important at every stage of our lives, not just when we're starting out in the world. That's because in a way, we're starting out fresh in the world every single day."

Just Who Will You Be? is a candid, heartfelt, and inspirational book for seekers of all ages. Inspired by a speech she gave, Maria Shriver's message is that what you do in your life isn't what matters. It's who you are. It's an important lesson that will appeal to anyone of any age looking for a life of meaning.

In her own life, Shriver always walked straight down her own distinctive path, achieving her childhood goal of becoming "award-winning network newswoman Maria Shriver". But when her husband was elected California's Governor and she suddenly had to leave her job at NBC News, Maria was thrown for a loop. Right about then, her nephew asked her to speak at his high school graduation. She resisted, wondering how she could possibly give advice to kids, when she was feeling so lost herself. But in the end she relented and decided to dig down and dig deep, and the result is this little jewel.

Just Who Will You Be? reminds us that the answer to many of life's question lie within -- and that we're all works in progress. That means it's never too late to become the person you want to be.

Now the question for you is this: Just who will you be?

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens

Sean Covey

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Total reviews: 207 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Based on his father's bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Sean Covey applies the same principles to teens, using a vivacious, entertaining style. To keep it fun, Covey writes, he "stuffed it full of cartoons, clever ideas, great quotes, and incredible stories about real teens from all over the world... along with a few other surprises." Did he ever! Flip open to any page and become instantly absorbed in real-life stories of teens who have overcome obstacles to succeed, and step-by-step guides to shifting paradigms, building equity in "relationship bank accounts," creating action plans, and much more.

As a self-acknowledged guinea pig for many of his dad's theories, Sean Covey is a living example of someone who has taken each of the seven habits to heart: be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw. He includes a comical section titled "The 7 Habits of Highly Defective Teens," which includes some, shall we say, counterproductive practices: put first things last; don't cooperate; seek first to talk, then pretend to listen; wear yourself out... Covey's humorous and up-front style is just light enough to be acceptable to wary teenagers, and down-and-dirty enough to really make a difference. (Ages 13 and older) --Emilie Coulter

The 48 Laws of Power

Robert Greene

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Total reviews: 510 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world, a shifting of perspective," writes Robert Greene. Mastery of one's emotions and the arts of deception and indirection are, he goes on to assert, essential. The 48 laws outlined in this book "have a simple premise: certain actions always increase one's power ... while others decrease it and even ruin us."

The laws cull their principles from many great schemers--and scheming instructors--throughout history, from Sun-Tzu to Talleyrand, from Casanova to con man Yellow Kid Weil. They are straightforward in their amoral simplicity: "Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit," or "Discover each man's thumbscrew." Each chapter provides examples of the consequences of observance or transgression of the law, along with "keys to power," potential "reversals" (where the converse of the law might also be useful), and a single paragraph cleverly laid out to suggest an image (such as the aforementioned thumbscrew); the margins are filled with illustrative quotations. Practitioners of one-upmanship have been given a new, comprehensive training manual, as up-to-date as it is timeless.

The Elements of Moral Philosophy

James Rachels, Stuart Rachels

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Asking All The Right Questions 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"The Elements of Moral Philosophy" is a fabulous, non-technical introduction to ethics. The writing is clear and historically informed, the main schools of thought are covered, and Rachels doesn't pretend that he's found all the answers to very difficult questions. I can't think of a better book for a college student who is new to philosophical ethics and wants to get a feel for how philosophers approach these issues.

I was struck by the handful of super-negative Amazon reviews. I suspect they were written by students who were forced to read the book for a class and either expected something else or were put off by Rachels' respectful but negative treatment of religious-based ethics. Ignore them.

Editorial Review:

Firmly established as the standard text for undergraduate courses in ethics, this concise, lively book combines clear explanations of the main theories of ethics with discussions of interesting examples. Topics covered include famine relief, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the treatment of animals. The text's versatility allows it to be widely used not only in ethical theory courses, but also in applied ethics courses of all kinds.

Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle

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Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Translations differ 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

It would be helpful if Amazon didn't pool together reviews from different translations. Note to Amazon: the customer reviews can be very helpful and have motivated me to purchase many books. But reviews for widely translated books should be specific to the translation. Otherwise they become worthless.

We Reach Our Complete Perfection Through Habit 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book for a graduate seminar on Aristotle. I think Aristotle's ethics is his most seminal work in philosophy. In the early 1960's virtue ethics came to fore. It is a retrieval of Aristotle. It has very close parallels to the ancient Chinese philosophy of Confucius and the modern philosophy espoused in the 1970's called Communitarianism.

For Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, (EN) is about human life in an embodied state. Area of inquirery for EN is "good" this is his phenomenology. What does "good" mean? He suggests good means "a desired end." Something desirable. Means towards these ends. Such as money is good, so one can buy food to eat because "eating is good." In moral philosophy distinction between "intrinsic good" vs. "instrumental good." Instrumental good towards a desire is "instrumental good" like money. Thus, money is an "instrumental good" for another purpose because it produces something beyond itself. Instrumental good means because it further produces a good, "intrinsic good" is a good for itself, "for the sake of" an object like money. "Intrinsic good" for him is "Eudemonia=happiness." This is what ethics and virtues are for the sake of the organizing principle. Eudemonia=happiness. Today we think of happiness as a feeling. It is not a feeling for Aristotle. Best translation for eudaimonia is "flourishing" or "living well." It is an active term and way of living for him thus, "excellence." Ultimate "intrinsic good" of "for the sake of." Eudaimonia is the last word for Aristotle. Can also mean fulfillment. Idea of nature was thought to be fixed in Greece convention is a variation. What he means is ethics is loose like "wealth is good but some people are ruined by wealth." EN isn't formula but a rough outline. Ethics is not precise; the nature of subject won't allow it. When you become a "good person" you don't think it out, you just do it out of habit!

You can have ethics without religion for Aristotle. Nothing in his EN is about the afterlife. He doesn't believe in the universal good for all people at all times like Plato and Socrates. The way he thought about character of agent, "thinking about the good." In addition, Aristotle talked about character traits. Good qualities of a person who would act well. Difference between benevolent acts and a benevolent person. If you have good character, you don't need to follow rules. Aretç=virtue, in Greek not religious connotation but anything across the board meaning "excellence" high level of functioning, a peak. Like a musical virtuoso. Ethical virtue is ethical excellence, which is the "good like." In Plato, ethics has to do with quality of soul defining what to do instead of body like desires and reason. For Aristotle these are not two separate entities.

To be good is how we live with other people, not just focus on one individual. Virtue can't be a separate or individual trait. Socrates said same the thing. Important concept for Aristotle, good upbringing for children is paramount if you don't have it, you are a lost cause. Being raised well is "good fortune" a child can't choose their upbringing. Happenstance is a matter of chance.

Pleasure cannot be an ultimate good. Part of the "good life" involves external goods like money, one can't attain "good life" if one is poor and always working. Socrates said material goods don't matter, then he always mooched off of his friends! Aristotle surmises that the highest form of happiness is contemplation. In Aristotle's Rhetoric, he lists several ingredients for attaining eudaimonia. Prosperity, self-sufficiency, etc., is important, thus, if you are not subject to other, competing needs. A long interesting list. It is common for the hoi polloi to say pleasure=happiness. Aristotle does not deny pleasure is good; however, it is part of a package of goods. Pleasure is a condition of the soul. In the animal world, biological beings react to pleasure and pain as usual. Humans as reasoning beings must pursue knowledge to fulfill human nature. It must be pleasurable to seek knowledge and other virtues and if it is not there is something wrong according to Aristotle. These are the higher pleasures and so you may have to put off lower pleasures for the sake of attaining "higher pleasures."

Phronçsis= "intelligence," really better to say "practical wisdom." The word practical helps here because the word Phronçsis for Aristotle is a term having to do with ethics, the choices that are made for the good. As a human being, you have to face choices about what to do and not to do. Phronçsis is going to be that capacity that power of the soul that when it is operating well will enable us to turn out well and that is why it is called practical wisdom. The practically wise person is somebody who knows how to live in such a way so that their life will turn out well, in a full package of "goods." For Aristotle, Phronçsis is not deductive or inductive knowledge like episteme; Phronçsis is not a kind of rational knowledge where you operate in either deduction or induction, you don't go thru "steps" to arrive at the conclusion. Therefore, Phronçsis is a special kind of capacity that Aristotle thinks operates in ethics. Only if you understand what Aristotle means by phronesis do you get a hold on the concept. My way of organizing it, it is Phronçsis that is a capacity that enables the virtues to manifest themselves.

What are the virtues? Phronçsis is the capacity of the soul that will enable the virtues to fulfill themselves. Virtue ethics is the characteristics of a person that will bring about a certain kind of moral living, and that is exactly what the virtues are. The virtues are capacities of a person to act well. All of the virtues can be organized by way of this basic power of the soul called Phronçsis. There are different virtues, but it is the capacity of Phronçsis that enables these virtues to become activated. Basic issue is to find the "mean" between extremes; this is how Aristotle defines virtues.

Humans are not born with the virtues; we learn them and practice them habitually. "We reach our complete perfection through habit." Aristotle says we have a natural potential to be virtuous and through learning and habit, we attain them. Learn by doing according to Aristotle and John Dewey. Then it becomes habitual like playing a harp. Learning by doing is important for Aristotle. Hexis= "state," "having possession." Theoria= "study." The idea is not to know what virtue is but to become "good." Emphasis on finding the balance of the mean. Each virtue involves four basic points.

1. Action or circumstance. Such as risk of losing one's life.
2. Relevant emotion or capacity. Such as fear and pain.
3. Vices of excess and vices of deficiency in the emotions or the capacities. Such as cowardice is the excess vice of fear, recklessness is the excess deficiency.
4. Virtue as a "mean" between the vices and deficiencies. Such as courage as the "mean."

No formal rule or "mean" it depends on the situation and is different for different people as well. For example--one should eat 3,000 calories a day. Well depends on the health and girth of the person, and what activity they are engaged in. It is relative to us individually.
All Aristotle's qualifications are based on individual situations and done with knowledge of experience. Some things are not able to have a "mean" like murder and adultery because these are not "goods."
Akrasia= "incontinence" really "weakness of the will. Socrates thought that all virtues are instances of intelligence or Phronçsis. Aristotle criticizes Socrates idea of virtue, virtue is not caused by state of knowledge it is more complicated. Aristotle does not think you have to have a reasoned principle in the mind and then do what is right, they go together.

The distinctions between continent and incontinent persons, and moderate (virtue) and immoderate (not virtuous) persons is as follows:

1. Virtue. Truly virtuous people do not struggle to be virtuous, they do it effortlessly, very few people in this category, and most are in #2 and #3.
2. Ethical strength. Continence. We know what is right thing to do but struggle with our desires.
3. Ethical weakness. This is akrasia incontinence. Happens in real life.
4. Vice. The person acts without regret of his bad actions.

What does Aristotle mean by "fully virtuous"? Ethical strength is not virtue in the full sense of the term. Ethical weakness is not a full vice either. This is the critique against Socrates idea that "Knowledge equals virtue." No one can knowingly do the wrong thing. Thus, Socrates denies appetites and desires. Aristotle understands that people do things that they know are wrong, Socrates denies this. Socrates says if you know the right thing you will do it, Aristotle disagrees. The law is the social mechanism for numbers 2, 3, 4. A truly virtuous person is their own moral compass.

I recommend Aristotle's works to anyone interested in obtaining a classical education, and those interested in philosophy. Aristotle is one of the most important philosophers and the standard that all others must be judged by.

Editorial Review:

Building on the strengths of the first edition, the second edition of the Irwin Nicomachean Ethics features a revised translation (without extensive editorial intervention), expanded notes (including a summary of the argument of each chapter), an expanded Introduction, and a revised glossary.

Terence Irwin is Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University.

Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions

Gerald Corey, Marianne Schneider Corey, Patrick Callanan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great for new students 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I enjoy reading this book for my masters class. It is written for easy reading but is not dumbed down. Very thought provoking.

Editorial Review:

Up-to-date and comprehensive, this practical best-selling text now available with an online personalized study plan, helps students learn how to deal with and apply ethical standards. The authors provide readers with the basis for discovering their own guidelines within the broad limits of professional codes of ethics and divergent theoretical positions. They raise what they consider to be central issues, present a range of diverse views on these issues, discuss their position, and provide readers with many opportunities to refine their own thinking and to actively develop their own position. The authors explore such questions as: What role do the therapist's personal values play in the counseling relationship? What ethical responsibilities and rights do clients and therapists have? And, what considerations are involved in adapting counseling practice to diverse client populations?

The Great Divorce

C. S. Lewis

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Total reviews: 217 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The trouble with thee and ye 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It took me a long, long time to get through this short book. I had difficulty following all the thees and the yees, tracking the differences between the spirits and the ghosts, deciphering the solid beings from the translucent ones.

I can sit through an amount of philosophizing; I don't think I can sit through much theologizing.

But there are times when something--and the gift of this book is you feel it is addressed to you. . .the meddlesome wife. . .to you the vain artist. . .to you the knowing teacher--is said just right. Listen:
"We met several Ghosts that had come so near to Heaven only in order to tell the Celestials about Hell. Indeed this is one of the commonest types. Others, who had perhaps been (like myself) teachers. . actually wanted to give lectures about it: they brought fat notebooks full of statistics, and maps, and (one of them) a magic lantern. Some wanted to tell anecdotes of the notorious sinners of all ages whom they had met below. . . `You have lead a sheltered life!' (these teachers) bawled. `You don't know. . .We'll tell you. We'll give you some hard facts.' . .All alike, so far as I could judge. . .were wholly unreliable, and all equally incurious about the country in which they had arrived. They repelled every attempt to teach them, and when they found that nobody listened to them, they went (away)."

If you are a teacher--as I am--you should be arrested by the truth of that scold. So I plodded--at times reluctantly along a paragraph a day, a page a day--to get to the next bit of truth. And--at times--I was similarly arrested. Here, about the consequences of habitual "small" sin, listen:
"I am troubled, Sir," said I, "because that unhappy creature doesn't seem to me to be the sort of soul that ought to be even in danger of damnation. She isn't wicked: she's only a silly, garrulous old woman who has got into a habit of grumbling."
". . .The question is whether she is a grumbler, or only a grumble. If there is a real woman--even the least trace of one--still there inside the grumbling, it can be brought to life again. If there's one spark under all those ashes, we'll blow it till the whole pile is red and clear. But if there's nothing but ashes. . .they must be swept up."
"But how can there be a grumble without a grumbler?"
"The whole difficulty of understanding Hell is that the thing to be understood is so nearly Nothing. But ye'll have had experiences. . .it begins with a grumbling mood, and yourself still distinct from it. . .Ye can repent and come out of it. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left. . .just the grumble itself."

I benefited from these, and similar insights, disappointed, though I was, in the book.

Editorial Review:

The Great Divorce is C.S. Lewis's Divine Comedy: the narrator bears strong resemblance to Lewis (by way of Dante); his Virgil is the fantasy writer George MacDonald; and upon boarding a bus in a nondescript neighborhood, the narrator is taken to Heaven and Hell. The book's primary message is presented with almost oblique tidiness--"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'" However, the narrator's descriptions of sin and temptation will hit quite close to home for many readers. Lewis has a genius for describing the intricacies of vanity and self-deception, and this book is tremendously persistent in forcing its reader to consider the ultimate consequences of everyday pettiness. --Michael Joseph Gross

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Don Miguel Ruiz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 654 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very basic 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 5 people found this review helpful.

First of all this is a very basic book. I have big issues with page 30 right from the get go. He says the word is powerful and is a force....I beg to differ. Things are just symbols of symbols, thus twice removed from reality, and the word IS the symbol! It's the thoughts we think that give us power and give us light to see what we REALLY are, not the word. He states a familar bible phrase, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,and the word is God." No.... I'm sorry, God doesn't DO words or any other "idols" He only does creation... in the form of loving, expansive thoughts. Yes we, (as children of God), are thoughts in the mind of God, and have NEVER left. Ideas leave NOT their source. He also gives a definition of sin, which I don't beleive in, and therefore can't possilbly be correct! The truth MUST be the same for eveyone! So while this book may have some good things to say, I so disagree with most of it's main premises, that it will serve no good purpose to reccommend it or reread it.

Editorial Review:

Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors. Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. --P. Randall Cohan

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition)

Simon Wiesenthal

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Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Is forgiveness possible when God takes a leave? 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I've used Wiesenthal's The Sunflower as a text in college courses several times. On each occasion my original high estimation of Wiesenthal's narrative grows, while my dissatisfaction with the chorus of responses that takes up nearly two-thirds of the latest edition deepens.

Wiesenthal asks exactly the right questions that all of us need to confront about forgiveness. Is forgiveness always ours to bestow? Is it permissible or even possible to forgive on behalf of others? Should forgiveness be tied to repentance on the part of the transgressor? Should the transgressor try to atone for his/her wrongdoing? What if, as in the case of the dying SS-man Wiesenthal meets, the performance of overt acts of atonement are impossible? Are there certain actions that are unforgiveable, or is the philosopher Jacques Derrida correct when he insists (On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness) that the only kind of forgiving that makes any sense is the kind that forgives the unforgiveable? And in a godless world--a world where, as several characters in The Sunflower say, wickedness is so rampant that God seems to have gone on leave--is forgiveness necessarily a different kind of phenomenon than it would be in a Godded world?

Weisenthal doesn't pretend to answer any of these questions, but he and the other characters in his memoir discuss them, presenting different perspectives and coming to different conclusions. The very real value of The Sunflower is that it encourages readers to think about the questions.

Which brings me to the responses. Most are impressionistic, unanalytical, platitudinous, and hence totally out of step with the brutal authenticity of Weisenthal's text. A few stand out from the others: Robert Coles', Rebecca Goldstein's, Abraham Joshua Heschel's, Primo Levi's. But most can be given a pass. My suggestion would be to focus first and foremost on Weisenthal's text and forget about the responses. A nice cinematic complement to the book is the documentary "Forgiving Dr. Mengele."

Editorial Review:

Author Simon Weisenthal recalls his demoralizing life in a concentration camp and his envy of the dead Germans who have sunflowers marking their graves. At the time he assumed his grave would be a mass one, unmarked and forgotten. Then, one day, a dying Nazi soldier asks Weisenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews. What would you do? This important book and the provocative question it poses is birthing debates, symposiums, and college courses. The Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Primo Levi, and others who have witnessed genocide and human tyranny answer Wiesenthal's ultimate question on forgiveness.