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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Ethics book!, September 16, 2011
This review is from: Ethics For Dummies (Paperback)
I loved this book! I think I read it from cover to cover in less that three days!! I used this book as preparation for an ethics class that I had to take in college. To be honest, I was not thrilled with the idea of taking an Ethics class; I am an Engineering mayor, and I am not a big fun of this kind of classes. However, this book really got me excited about ethics, It made me think and question my ethical foundations.
For the title, I was hesitant for reading it, I wanted to read something more serious. But do not let the title fool you!! it really condenses the same information that you find in a more academic book, but combining it with a healthy doses of humor. Because the authors of this book used a more informal and relaxed tone, I really learned from it. I remember more from this book that my actual ethics textbook.
Bottom line, this is a fantastic introductory book for ethics, they really tried to not being bias about the topics covered in this book( which, believe me, it is very hard task in the ethics field!), and the best of all it is that greatly helped me to aced this my ethics class!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ethics for Dummies, May 4, 2011
This review is from: Ethics For Dummies (Paperback)
"Ethics for Dummies" is a very helpful book. It has several strengths:
1. It is highly accessible for undergraduates. The design of each chapter gives concrete examples, bullet points, "warnings" about problems related to theories, special "remember" messages to focus on key themes, "ponder this" icons to raise issues of concern, and a delightful set of "Far Side" like cartoons to open each chapter. It is a "fun read" with some very serious content. Don't be fooled by the reader-friendly style. The content provided is substantive. Professors Panza and Potthast definitely know their ethical theory.
2. It is comprehensive and multi-cultural. The authors cover the bases from meta-ethics and normative ethics to applied ethics (i.e. biomedical, environmental, professional, human rights based, sexuality focused, and in dialogue with the emerging animal rights conversation). They also attend to frameworks often neglected in introductory ethics books such as a "feminist care ethics," questions of free will versus determinism as a context for ethics, as well as Confucian ethics and the "ethics as harmful" criticisms coming from Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Taoism.
3. It is independently structured. That is, one can go to a single chapter and understand the analysis without reading the rest of the book. The writers intentionally organized the project so that each chapter is comprehensible without references to other chapters. If additional references are helpful, the writers explicitly direct readers to the appropriate sections in other chapters for further clarification.
As an undergraduate ethics professor, I often face a problem. My students don't read the more complex primary and secondary sources I assign without highly intentional "reader review" paper requirements or computer message board commentary assignments. When they do the reading, they are often confused because critical analysis of texts is challenging work. This "Ethics for Dummies" book is precisely the kind of aid which would benefit them. I encourage instructors to review it as a source to help students genuinely grasp the material on an introductory level.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Ethics Book for Everyone, February 4, 2011
This review is from: Ethics For Dummies (Paperback)
This is an excellent book. The "For Dummies" books are always informative, but credit must go to Christopher Panza and Adam Potthast for writing a book that is not only informative, but interesting, humorous (where appropriate), and thought-provoking as well.
Ethics is a pretty intense subject, but Panza and Potthast approach the subject matter in a way that is fun and engaging. For those who haven't studied ethics, this book gives a very accessible introduction that uses real-life examples to explain difficult theories.
Others who have studied ethics will learn something as well. Panza and Potthast have done an incredible job not only listing and explaining particular ethical theories (which one could expect in any book that introduces ethics), but also providing critiques and counterarguments against those same ethical theories. I found Chapter 5 "Seeing Ethics as Harmful" the most interesting, as Panza and Potthast outline and explain the ethics-questioning theories of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and the ancient Chinese Taoists. You get a sense that these two authors really know their "stuff" so-to-speak, and they do an excellent job of presenting it.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this book, whether or not you've studied ethics previously.
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