Ethics Books

The best of Rawls in a fine edition. Great book to read.

Rawls' doctoral dissertation, completed at Harvard in 1951, sketched a procedure for adjudicating certain political and moral conflicts. Twenty years later he parlayed this procedure into his famous elaboration of social contract theory, his conception of "justice as fairness." This idea marks the heart of Rawls' _A Theory of Justice_, the most important and influential work of political philosophy of the twentieth century. His central thesis, that a conception of justice as fairness would be accepted by all members of liberal constitutional democracies, motivated Rawls' justly-celebrated philosophical defense of democratic liberalism. In _Political Liberalism_ (1993), Rawls deepened his philosophical analysis by articulating an even broader principle, that of "public reason," which he believes is the shared basis for justifying (among other things) liberty of conscience, freedom of thought, and toleration of difference within liberal societies. Most recently, in _The Law of Peoples_ (1999), Rawls has stretched the social contract yet further by defending an even more general philosophical principle, that of the "just law of peoples." Just as the liberal principles of justice of fairness and public reason allowed him to develop complex theories about political relations within liberal democracies, Rawls believes that, because it would be acceptable to both constitutional liberals and members of certain illiberal societies, this new principle forms the basis of a social contract more inclusive than those of his earlier treatises. Rawls' vision of a realizable near-utopia emerges through his beautiful theoretical elaborations of a social contract theory that takes his principles--as well as the existence of a world burdened with outlaw states, crushing poverty, and problematical absolutism--utterly seriously.

Rawls' _Collected Papers_ brings together nearly all of his major and minor shorter publications on these and related issues. Many essays explore in greater depth issues raised by critics of _A Theory of Justice_ and _Political Liberalism_, and all of them together paint a fascinating portrait of Rawls' philosophical development between 1951 and the present.

Collective bargaining is something that has to be experienced to be understood, and a simulation is a great way to help students develop that perspective. This student workbook is excellent, and provides a sound basis for the simulation. I did not have access to the software for the instructor, so I cannot comment on that.

The simulation is broken down into 5 phases: Preparation; Pre-Bargaining Strategy Development; Opening Negotiation; Additional Negotiations; and Simulation Review.

The simulation is designed so that it can be done individually or with a team. I would strongly encourage you to use the team approach, because that will come closest to what the actual experience is like.

The case materials are quite complete. You have an actual collective bargaining agreement (slightly disguised) to work from. You also have lots of information about pay rates, profitability, costs of various things being bargained for. In the evaluation section, you have some good ways for team members to help you understand how you did and did not contribute to the process successfully.

There are a variety of roles to play. Ideally, you should do the simulation at least twice, and have a chance to work on both sides of the negotiation.

Some of the key issues you'll be asked to think about include wages, overtime levels, fully-paid health insurance, and a declining management-labor relationship.

This simulation has been used at many universities, and I hope that many more will adopt it, as well. Enjoy your role playing!

This is only computer-based simulation for use in collective bargaining, negotiations, and human resource management courses, or management training in this important subject. The book that is listed is the STUDENT MANUAL for the course. The instructor will have the software for the simulation. This is not a stand-alone product but must be administered by the insturctor in the course. This book would be the same book as purchased in the college bookstore.

This is a review reposted from the Paperback version of Come, Wewoka:

Come Wewoka, July 6, 2008
By S. Miller "liandanson" (N.C.)

I was moved by this inspirational retelling of a historical disaster.
Once started I could not set down the poems of tragedy and conveyance of a People so oppressed and degraded. It made my heart sad to think My people (both white and native american) had brought this to pass.

Touching in its intensity the author has brought life to a past era and shared a side of the story seldom heard.

Thank you for sharing thoughts, stories and passion of an age gone by but hopefully not forgotten for its impact on humanity.

I highly recommend this book to all.
Sincerely,
Sondi Miller

One of the greatest tragedies of our American History, and of the history of our world is the abomination that led to the Trail of Tears of 1831. The devastation that occurred due to the forced relocation of entire nations from their homelands due to the greed of the American government still lingers today within the Five Civilized Tribes who were the victims of this action, and many of Edward Patterson's poetry in this dual collection deals with those after effects, and expresses the anguish, anger, and frustrations that continue to haunt his people almost 200 years later.

In addition to the poems of "Come, Wewoka,", Patterson shares much of his personal life through the prose poetry of "Diary of Medicine Flower". These poems, as personally insightful as the others, are more focused not on the impact of the Trail of Tears on his people as the life he's led and the trials and tribulations which he's faced and overcome.

This collection reflects what I believe to be poetry at its best, poetry which gives us a peek into the heart of the human soul from which we come away feeling a little more enlightened.

This is a poetry collection that every lover of great literature should find moving.

- Gregory Bernard Banks, author, reader, reviewer

Gregg has written an excellent book. This book, in it essence, is a very lucid scholarly, accurate historical-conceptual study of the causal correlations between the commercial society and what Gregg calls its "foundations", meaning the conditions that favor the commercial society. These include moral foundations (e.g., creativity, practical wisdom, trust, civility), economic foundations and legal-political foundations. But to read this book merely as a descriptive study is to miss the more important prescriptive thesis, which is that we ought to encourage and promote the commercial society. Beware, again of missing the important prescriptive thesis if one reads in Gregg merely the suggestion that an appropriate culture supporting these foundations( which intellectuals have a role to shape) needs to be defended and encouraged *in order to* have a commercial society. Rather the equally interesting, if not more interesting proposal, is that one might promote the commercial society *in order to* promote those desirable moral, economic and legal political foundations, which have themselves independent value, and which constitute a culture of civility. So what turned out originally to be means for the sake of the end (i.e., the commercial society) are now proposed as the ends worth seeking via the establishment of the commercial society. Gregg does not harbour pie-in-the-sky illusions: there remains many fine-tuning to be done, and he is alert to these, as seen in his careful qualifications. But this strategy for promoting the culture of civility, if I may, by way of the commercial society needs to be explored, since the causal correlative connections are much in evidence. In inviting us to think this way, Gregg is offering us an example of what Herbert Simon (Nobel Prize in economics, 1978) calls goaless designing (The Sciences of the Artificial, 1983), which he recommends as a fully rational and creative way of designing and engineering society. One seeks a solution (A) for a certain problem (B), but along the way, one discovers that the solution (B) itself is a desirable end, and one can reasonably pursue that (B) instead as the end of the design. Social planning, which aims to improve society, can certainly develop in this way, and the social planner or designer has to be alert, like an entrepreneur, to possibilities, consequences and hence opportunities that result from his solution, and to consider if the solution and the consequences might not itself be worth seeking, and not merely valuable instrumentally. If it is independently valuable, then it might in fact be sought after as the end goal, and what formerly was the end may now be sought instrumentally for the sake of the new end goal, to the extent that there is evidence that they mutually support each other. Gregg's The Commercial Society is just one such kind of design solution for improving the society. Thus it constantly invites us not merely to consider defending the foundations and civil cultures for the sake of the commercial society, but rather that we might consider crafting and engineering the commercial society for the sake of such a civil culture. Gregg pursues here, one might add, a way of thinking found in Michael Novak's works where he invites us to consider the way commercial society requires (and hence promotes) human creativity, which then can be ordered towards imaging God's own creativity. Whether one fully agrees with Gregg or not, one will have to take this work seriously. This is a fine text to challenge policy thinking that many times is senselessly linear and uncreative. Gregg was awarded the very prestigious Culture of Enterprise Award for this book. I am not at all suprised.

Drawing upon ancient and modern sources, "The Commercial Society" is one of those books that remind us that commercial order is about much more than the market economy. Using clear language free of jargon, this prize-winning book (Templeton Enterprise Award 2007) identifies the central moral, legal, and economic foundations of market orders and illustrates why they are indispensable to any society that aspires to the title of free and civilized.

Many have been waiting for such a book for a long time. Not since reading Wilhelm Ropke have I come across a book that articulates such a strong and morally-convincing case for free societies shaped decisively by the dominance of free enterprise and markets, but in a way that escapes the mathematical justifications offered by most contemporary economists.

It is difficult to classify this book as "conservative" or "classical liberal", not least because the author utilizes sources from both traditions, such as Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Friedrich von Hayek, and Alexis de Tocqueville. It is, in short, a book grounded firmly in various strands of the Western tradition, especially that synthesized in the Scottish Enlightenment, but prefigured by a number of late-medieval and early-modern thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas. It is refreshing to read a text that is so unambiguously committed to authentic human liberty, but which cannot be boxed so easily in any one intellectual paradigm.

Those inclined to planned economies or socialism will find this book very challenging to their core beliefs. "The Commercial Society", however, does not seek to persuade by hectoring. Nor does it suggest that commercial order contains all the answers to humanity's questions and problems. Rather, it expresses its arguments through logic, by carefully marshaling the facts, and judiciously surveying history. The book closes with a sophisticated discussion of the possibility of building commercial orders as opposed to simply letting them evolve. It is one of the most intriguing discussions I have read of a problem that has puzzled thinkers such as Smith, Montesquieu and Tocqueville - this alone makes the book worth reading.

This book changed my life. OK, that's a bit of an overstatement, but this book will help you.

amazing, i can hardly leave my house
this book has engulfed my mind, body and spirit
be cool
read this book

While we all anxiously await Lingis' _The Imperative_ (forthcoming, Indiana Univ. Press), which promises to be his most systematic philosophical work to date, _The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common_ offers a tantalizing glimpse of where 21st century philosophy might take us. Lingis is probably the most serious philosopher of the American "Continental thought" scene, and BY FAR its most talented literary stylist. The time to discover his books is NOW.

This collection of essays is perhaps Alphonso Lingis' most reader-friendly work. The main force behind this book is the idea that individuality is linked to mortality. Each essay is connected by theme, and the final "chapter" presents the problem of death: possibilities left behind, unfulfilled and almost meaningless in the face of "the end." I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Georges Bataille.

This anthology, like all other Blackwell philosophy anthologies, is a keeper. This text is comprehensive, and presents multiple viewpoints on each issue, unlike many texts, which present primarily one viewpoint.

As source material for the bioethics student, this anthology is a joy to read and refer back to. After a laconic introduction by Helga Kuhse, the book begins to situate bioethics as a discipline with articles contrasting it to law, ethics, and religion. The diverse approaches are next examined, each by an expert (Arras on the case approach, Childress on the prnciple approach, etc). Especially informative and provocative are the articles on personhood by Michael Tooley and brain death by Jeff McMahan. A sanity check is provided for bioethics teachers who wonder if they are approaching the discipline correctly in the critical review on how bioethics is taught by Catherine Myser. The book is a gold mine by experts who dispassionately present their topics cogently and clearly.

Every so often we are reminded of the poor. This book puts a face on not only the poor but on the destitute. The destitute will become real people which leads us to the next step --- action! What can we do and what must we do as a moral person.

Of the 12 chapters in this slim book of 200 pages the one that affected me the most is entitled, "To Have or Not To Have; Economically Just Lifestyles".

WARNING: This book is written by an activist with the intention of convicting the reader into becomming an activist also. I dare say he will probably be successful!

I was loaned this book and was challenged and changed by it's content. Now I am buying a copy for myself, that I can loan out to others. The author writes honestly about the many issues involved in working with the poor. He doesn't pretent to know all the answers, and this is very refreshing. Anyone with any compassion for people in poverty will love this book. You will not be the same again.

Nurse-clinician and attorney, author Barbara Coombs Lee presents case histories of terminally ill patients, in an unblinking, sympathetic and uplifting way. She also tells the story of Oregon's remarkable law, first in the U.S. to permit physician aid-in-dying. The book provides a breath of air in a society stifled with violent media overload and morbid curiosity about death, but little support in handling the actuality. It should reassure Americans that taking control of life's ending is not only possible and practical, but life-enhancing for the individual concerned, the family, and the community. John Ashcroft doesn't get it, but this approach actually prevents impulsive, desperation suicide and prolongs meangingful life for many, because they have compassionate medical support.

This is a marvelous book, beautifully written, thoughtful and sensitive. The various stories by and about people helped by Compassion are wonderfully told and very moving. The introductory chapter, "A Death of One's Own" is one of the best statements I've ever read on this subject. The book is a very valuable contribution to the literature and to the public debate on end of life choices.

This is THE BEST nursing book I've ever read. Had to read it for a required nursing class and I will read it again. Any nurse who cares about the nursing profession needs to read this book. I have passed it around work and everyone loves it. It holds your interest, and really represents the nursing profession. If only patients and the public could read this book...

I purchased this book and "Nursing Against the Odds" by Gordan at the same time. While this book provided inspiring articulation of my own thoughts at this point in my career, the other one was just depressing. I coasted through this book of essays by different authors and felt empowered and encouraged. The chapter by Diana Mason was particularly interesting for me. I think this is a timely book that should be read and discussed by nursing professionals everywhere!