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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: I found this book interesting and informative...
Rating: 
Summary: lacking deeper insight.
Review: The author takes a deontological (rule based) approach to defining an ethical system that persistently leaves open the "But why?" question. His identification and classification of virtues presuppose that Biblical virtues encapsulate some universal truth but then appeals to intuition and authority to substantiate his claim. Rules are great for children, but I'm an adult and need to understand why something is ethical or unethical, moral or immoral. The other philosophical approach to ethics is called consequentialism and directly aims for the "Why?" that I, personally, find compelling. Consequentialism basically says, "To be ethical, do your best to understand the consequences (results) of your actions and then act in such a way to have the best possible set of consequences." The fact that the author doesn't explore this facet of ethics leaves him pretty far from the larger ethical discussion we can all participate in. If you want a much better theory of ethics than this book provides: choose good long-term goals (this can be difficult, parents try to help children with this when young; self-examination, friends and counselors can help later), identify the consequences of the alternative decisions on those goals, make the decision that gets you closest to your goals (or the least far away in the case of a decision between two unattractive alternatives). Now, I don't mean to diminish or minimize the size of the problem in understanding ethics or being ethical. Effective identification of long-term goals is hard. It's one reason why childhood takes years (seeking emotional maturity), why those who don't learn good lessons in goal making end up doing stupid (and unethical) things, why criminals appear in societies, etc. My long-term goals are close to: 1) live a life filled with joy 2) raise children who can have joy 3) help build and maintain healthy communities (family, friends, neighbors) 4) maximize liberty and happiness in the world. You may or may not be interested to see how many rules (don't murder, don't steal, don't cheat, etc.) and how many virtues (be prudent, be charitable, be balanced (aka moderate or temperate), etc.) derive directly from doing my best to fulfill those long-term goals. Which would make this system (explained in a few simple paragraphs) a great deal more fundamental than the one presented in this book.
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