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HOW GOOD PEOPLE MAKE TOUGH CHOICES

Name: HOW GOOD PEOPLE MAKE TOUGH CHOICES
Author: Rushworth M. Kidder
ISBN: 0-688-13442-4

RESOLVING THE DILEMMAS OF ETHICAL LIVING: TRUTH VS. LOYALTY, INDIVIDUAL VS. COMMUNITY, SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM, JUSTICE VS. MERCY

by Rushworth M. Kidder ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 24, 1995

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Whatever happened to the discipline of ethics? At a time when moral questions tend to be argued with more heat than light, Kidder offers practical guidelines for a coherent and mindful approach to ethical dilemmas. In the early morning hours of April 26, 1986, two electrical engineers, working at the control panel of Reactor Number Four at Chernobyl, overrode six separate alarm systems to see how long the turbine would free-wheel when the power was removed. For Kidder (Shared Values for a Troubled World, not reviewed), the ensuing catastrophe is a parable of why ethics matters. Founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, he deals not so much with the problem of choosing between right and wrong as with the daily dilemmas of choosing between right and right. Should I always tell all the truth? Should I divulge professional information that may help others but will certainly ruin an individual's life? Kidder spotlights the contemporary concern for ethical standards in corporations while guiding us through the thought of Aristotle, Kant, Bentham, and others. He posits four models for dilemmas of right vs. right: the clashes between truth and loyalty, individual and community, short-term and long-term goods, justice and mercy. He goes on to propose three principles he believes will enable us to resolve moral dilemmas: consideration of the likely consequences of our decision, knowledge of the laws of conduct, and adherence to the Golden Rule that we should do as we would be done to. Finally, Kidder lays out a practical scheme for approaching problematic situations and looks at complex modern questions such as computer hacking and ways of combatting AIDS. He offers no answers, instead giving readers a program for energetic self-reflection. A brilliant and practical synthesis that squarely faces all the issues and can be grasped by the thoughtful nonspecialist.

Pub Date: Jan. 24, 1995

ISBN: 0-688-13442-4

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | SELF-HELP

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THE NEXT POPE

A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE FORCES THAT WILL CHOOSE THE SUCCESSOR TO JOHN PAUL II AND DECIDE THE FUTURE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

by Peter Hebblethwaite ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1995

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Renowned Vatican watcher and journalist Hebblethwaite (Paul VI: The First Modern Pope, 1993, etc.) offers a savvy analysis of how the next pope will come to be chosen and of the challenges he will face. Since John Paul took office in 1978, he has survived an assassination attempt, the removal of a growth, and a hip replacement. It's too early to predict his successor, says Hebblethwaite, but the Catholic Church is now clearly in a pre- conclave period. He describes how popes have been elected since 1179 by the cardinals of the Roman Church and gives us the inside story on the (supposedly secret) elections over the last 150 years. Noting that every conclave has to decide between continuity and discontinuity with the previous pope, Hebblethwaite examines the contributions of John Paul II, such as his role in the fall of communism and his publication of the New Code of Canon Law and the recent Catechism. He offers an incisive critique of the Pope's vision of a renewed Europe and of his position that a democracy without values or a respect for the human person becomes an open or thinly disguised totalitarianism. Hebblethwaite sees John Paul II as ruling the Church from the extreme right and suggests that a future pope will be more centrist, more accepting of a ``loyal opposition'' within the fold and of pluralism in society, will reexamine the possibility of women priests, and will see the world in terms of the North-South, rather than the East-West, divide. Based on his own sources, Hebblethwaite (who died during the preparation of this book) assesses possible future popes, e.g., the forward-looking Italians Carlo Maria Martini and Achille Silvestrini, the African Francis J. Arinze (who has a special understanding of Islam), the charismatic (and Yiddish-speaking) Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris, and Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, who is said to want the job. The liberal Catholic position presented intelligently and loyally.

Pub Date: April 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-06-063752-8

Page Count: 192

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

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IN SEARCH OF STONE

A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH, REASON, AND DISCOVERY

by M. Scott Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1995

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Severe inflammation of the ego is in evidence as ex-therapist Peck (Further Along the Road Less Traveled, 1993, etc.) muses on life and recounts his 21-day tour of Great Britain's ancient megalithic sites. Following his nephew's wedding at a famous London church, Peck and his wife, Lily, set out by train for Wales, the English Lake District, and Scotland in search of stones, similar to those at Stonehenge, set up in mysterious patterns more than 4,000 years ago. Peck tells us that he is too clever and possibly too humble to write an autobiography and that this is the closest he will get to it. As we follow him from the ``litter'' of Paddington Station to Cardiff, where the best hotel vaguely reminds him of Calcutta and he finds the natives unintelligible, we hear of his embarrassment at his privileged upbringing on the better part of Manhattan's Park Avenue and of his marital infidelities (which he says have ceased due to the onset of late middle age). He cites, as a bit of British provincialism, the fact that an English clergyman was scandalized at his $10,000 fee for a day's speaking engagement (half the priest's yearly income). As for Scotland itself, Peck found Glasgow ``grimy and littered'' and somehow missed out on its ancient cathedral and renowned architecture. He visited the New Age Community at Findhorn (which also disappointed him) but failed to call at the nearby 13th-century Pluscarden Abbey, with its remarkable stonework and vigorous religious community. Eloquent in his allusions to the Druids, the Merlin legend, and the mysterious people who built the stone circles, the author seems to have been hardly aware of their more recent counterparts. For the moment, Peck seems to have run out of road.