Thoughtful contemplations about thorny moral questions.
How to live virtuously and well.
In 2016, Notre Dame philosophy professors Sullivan and Blaschko began teaching a course called God and the Good Life, which became hugely popular among undergraduates. Their aim, they write, was to help students to live more intentionally and to take agency and responsibility for their choices. Drawing on the content and pedagogy of that course, the authors offer a warm, empathetic guide for examining the quality and meaning of one’s own life. They encourage readers to hone their ability to pose and answer strong questions—“the kinds of questions that uncover our deeper reasons for believing and doing what we do”; to pay loving attention to others’ stories; and to think about “how the episodes of your life fit together.” The first half of the book considers everyday philosophical challenges, “questions about money, work, family life, and political friction.” The second half focuses on existential matters such as faith, suffering, and death. Each chapter concludes with exercises designed to prompt self-awareness about the connection of one’s choices to one’s ethical and moral goals. Throughout, the authors contrast effective altruism with virtue ethics, two philosophical perspectives that lead to quite different ways of defining a morally good life. While effective altruists, such as philosopher Peter Singer, believe one should earn as much as possible in order to give away as much as possible, virtue ethicists believe that “ ‘care for the soul’ is the most important work any of us can do.” That work requires training and practice. The authors draw on thinkers from Plato to William James, St. Thomas Aquinas to Kierkegaard, Aristotle to Iris Murdoch as they present a wide range of responses to much-debated moral questions. The authors themselves share candid reflections on the evolution of their own thinking, including “philosophical apologies”—that is, defenses—of many hard decisions they’ve made.
Thoughtful contemplations about thorny moral questions.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-984880-30-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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