Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics

I enjoyed the simple approach, easy explanations and clear language. It is useful as a "Reader's Digest" view of ethics for the everyday person, or the beginner student.

Dr. Blackburn has written perhaps one of the best introductions to ethics. It is for people looking for an introduction but do not want the typical fare that you find in a textbook. It is simple and to the point with just enough needed explanation. I do not usally recommend it for my philosophy buddies but I always recommend it for those just beginning to have an interest in philosopy. I like cognitive engineering.

I bought this book (along with others) to study for an upcoming DSST exam. While it didn't necessarily list names of the "greats" much, it was short, sweet & to the point. I also appreciated the humor in it, & its application to modern society. If you're looking for deep academia, this isn't it, but it's not meant to be either. Beyond that, I do recommend it...just for the fun of reading!

Blackburn promises a short intro to ethics, and he delivers. This is perfect for someone who wants to get right to what different ethical concepts are without reading a book on each. Perfect for the person who wants to "see it all" in one slim book, then has the opportunity to investigate it more fully to his/her heart's content. Illustrations, particularly the one of the "Accidental Napalm Attack" in Vietnam, hit home with me, as I have small children.

"Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics" is just that, a slim volume about the philosophy of ethics and how philosophers think about this subject. It is an introduction for people who are brave (or fooligh) enough to dare to ask "Why be good?". Far to few people it seems have bothered to ask this question or assumed there is a patent answer without ever taking that answer out into the daylight to examine it. Thinking ethically isn't done in a vacuum, it is of a process. When faced with an ethical problem, how do you seek a solution? Do you try to maximize the good for the most people? Do you try to identify universal laws and then try to follow them? Do you seek the advice of authority figures or authoritative books?The text is split into three distance parts, the first addresses what Mr. Blackburn refers to "threats to ethics." These threats include relativism, skepticism, nihilism, challenges to free will, and altruism. Threats are largely those things which suggest that there is no real reason to be good at all; it's just something we as a people do. With each topic, he explains why they do not make ethics "impossible" after all. Mr. Blackburn explains how religion's declining influence does not harm ethical thinking, in fact he views this in a positive light in that without religion frees us to make independent choices, rather than to simply be automatons. Relativism is a more serious challenge, but when taken to its logical conclusion relativism refutes itself and removes the arguer from the conversation altogether.The second section discusses particular attitudes about ethical issues including birth, death, desire and the meaning of life, pleasure, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, freedom from the bad, freedom and paternalism, and rights and natural rights. This second section is the weakest and seems to be ill connected to the other two. This weakness is there despite the fact that the author is talking about such hot topics as abortion and euthanasia.The third section looks at the larger question of whether the idea of ethics rests on anything at all. This I believe is the topic that unsettles most people. The thinking goes that without a basis there is no reason for ethics. Mr. Blackburn shows this to not be the case. Mr. Blackburn believes people should actively engage in ethical dialogue in an effort to arrive at a common point of view for making ethical decisions. This of course means that there is no guarantee that such conversation will be successful, but at least there is a chance, and without such a dialogue, there is no chance at all. The book is demanding of its reader. It demands that one actually look at one's ethical system and see it for what it is.