Ethics Without God [Paperback]

Kai Nielsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

Nielsen argues that morality cannot be based on religion, and that there is no evidence to show that non-believers despair or lose their sense of identity and purpose. He shows that the implications of Christian absolutism are more likely to be monstrous than are those of a secular ethic that incorporates an independent principle of justice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; Rev Sub edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879755520
• ISBN-13: 978-0879755522
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #787,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Questions, January 9, 2002

By 

Douglas Harper (Lancaster, Pa., U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ethics Without God (Paperback)

Difficult for a non-philosopher (i.e., "me"), but not too difficult to read with pleasure. Can a Christian also be a good person? The question is no mere provocation; there are serious philosophical problems in reconciling fidelity to God and ethical behavior. This book doesn't take on hate-mongers hiding behind Bibles, but rather the pure question of good and evil in people of honest motives.

His most memorable argument seems to go like this:

Ought we to obey the will of God? Of course we should, the believer answers. But why? Because He is almighty and powerful and will punish us if we do not obey? Well, then, obeying God is no better than obeying Stalin and Hitler. Or because he is always good? In that case, you invoke something within you, some discernment of "good," that you apply even to an order from the deity. So why not dispense with the cumbersome deity altogether, and focus on the internal discernment?

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A courageous, articulate defense of ethics, March 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ethics Without God (Paperback)

Nielsen provides a provacitve argument for the much disparaged claim that ethical behavior can, and indeed, must be produced outside of the repressive guilt factories of Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. Nielsen persuasively posits a code of ethical behavior that is based solely on the principle of the betterment of human life and makes a vital distinction between morals and ethics--a distinction lost upon both many religious leaders and aetheists today. This book, upon careful reading, will challenge both aetheists as well as religious people.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective Values, May 3, 2007

By 

C. Nelson (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ethics Without God (Paperback)

Since when was the objectivity of morals and values a fact? Last I heard, there was much debate concerning the subjectivity or objectivity of ethics, values, and morals. Claiming that there are objective morals, that it is a fact, and then slamming the book for this self-created truth is irrational.