Ethics for Everyone: How to Increase Your Moral Intelligence - Softcover

Dobrin, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471435953 ISBN 13: 9780471435952

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2002

Synopsis

Ethics for Everyone

Is it always wrong to lie? Is it always right to try to help another person? Are you bound to keep every promise you make? In Ethics for Everyone: How to Increase Your Moral Intelligence, you′ll find out how well you make moral choices and learn how to increase your ability to understand and analyze ethical dilemmas. This sensible, practical guide provides thoughtful–and sometimes surprising–answers to tough real–world questions. You′ll sort through dozens of tricky ethical issues with the help of:
∗ Twenty–one dramatic true stories showing real–life ethics in action– and you are asked to make ethical choices
∗ A personal ethics quiz to determine your own ethical potential
∗ Harm and benefits assessments of various courses of action
∗ Expert opinions from spiritual leaders, counselors, attorneys, psychologists, and other experts

About this title

Review

There are no cut–and–dried answers to the big ethical problems, says Dobrin, a Hofstra University professor and an active participant in the Ethical Humanist movement for more than 30 years, but discussing the issues can give better insight into what′s right. After a mercifully brief discussion of various ethical systems, Dobrin sets out some typical ethical quandaries for readers to analyze, helping them establish their own moral IQ. Homework over, readers can relax and follow Dobrin and his guest experts as they navigate a series of provocative moral dilemmas. Should his father consent to heart surgery for his mother if she′s succumbing quickly to Alzheimer′s? Should an all–boy athletic team have the right to exclude a girl? Should the West Pointer resign rather than betray his friend or the school′s honor code? Many readers will have encountered some of these dilemmas themselves, but other situations will be new. Dobrin′s willingness to see all sides will encourage readers to think broadly as well; retaking the preliminary quiz at the end of the book, many will find their own ethical perspectives more nuanced and satisfying. This compelling volume and Randy Cohen′s The Good, the Bad and the Difference (reviewed on p. 87) should both hit responsive chords with the ethically questing. But if Cohen is "everyday ethics" (going back on a job offer; senior discounts), Dobrin, while just as accessive, leans toward big–time ethics (assisting a Lou Gehrig′s disease sufferer to commit suicide; telling an adopted child about his or her birth parents). (Apr.)
Forecast: The budget cover price and a user–friendly format make this an ideal choice for any ethics–oriented reading group. ( Publishers Weekly, February 18, 2002)

"This compelling volume...hits responsive chords with the ethically questing.... The budget cover price and a user–friendly format make this an ideal choice for any ethics–oriented reading group." ( Publishers Weekly, February 18, 2002)

Synopsis

This book tells how to evaluate and increase your ethical potential. From the Dalai Lama's bestseller on ethics to the "New York Times Magazine's" weekly column on modern-day ethical dilemmas, ethical behavior is of growing concern to many people. In a world of few absolutes and many complications, how do you separate right from wrong in the ethical gray zone of daily life? Now, Arthur Dobrin demystifies the subject. Through dramatic case stories as well as practical advice, he shows readers how to evaluate their own ethical potential, providing guidelines for making the right decision in almost any everyday situation. For everyone who deals with difficult ethical issues in the course of their day business people, teachers, and parents as well as the average consumer this is an essential resource and a compellingly readable practical guide.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0471435953
• ISBN 13: 9780471435952
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272