Customer Reviews

The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I use this book as a text book for my introduction to ethics course at a local community college. This book is not only great for a text but also very interesting to read. Some of the selections are difficult to understand and are difficult reading but over all it is a great book for those wishing to gain a broad base of knowledge on a variety of moral theories and issues.

I felt compelled to write this review after seeing certain things in other reviews which attack the character of this man, rather than the quality of the passages contained in the text. I hope that this review will educate individuals about the text, as well as the passages contained in the text.

Firstly i take issue with this personal attack on Pojman. Yes, I disagree with 99% percent of what this man believes on issues concerning morality, but I don't think attacking his character is a fair way to review his text. Secondly, many people, including my fellow students, felt as though Pojman presented his opinions in a fundamentalist light, which would certainly follow because of his own beliefs. Though there are certainly shades of fundamentalism and even neo-conservatism in this book, is that necessarily a bad thing?

The purpose of this book was to present ethics in as many ways as possible. Though there does seem to be an proportionately large amount of material in here that most postmodern, existential, utilitarian, conflict theorist, etc... would disagree with. It is important for a college student in an intro to ethics class to be exposed to different points of view, even if they aren't popular.

And all the popular points are certainly there as well. Nietzsche, Mill, Dostoevsky, Hobbes. Certainly this book could have been more comprehensive and presented in a more relative light (as Pojman will show favoritism in painfully obvious ways) but hey, as far as intro to ethics books go this is about as good as it gets. Most level-headed college students that walk into a class that uses this book will walk out remembering the classic texts, and not the obscurities carefully selected by Pojman.

There is a great cross-section of selections here that will undoubtedly upon the mind of any college student. I highly recommend this book, just be careful and draw your own conclusions.

Note to professors: Please teach this class carefully, as if you strictly assign material and do not go over it in a comprehensive manner, students may walk away with nothing more than the opinions of an inferior ethicist. Still you could do much worse than this book.

This is the best book available on the interrelationship between ethics and literature. Seeing the moral dimension of the works of Hawhorne, Hugo, Huxley, LeGuin and scores of others highlights the importance of morality in our lives and awakens the imagination to possibilities hitherto ignored. This is a wonderful book which every intlligent person should read.

I've used various editions of this text over a six-year period and found them excellent--a nice blend of theory and (literary) experience. To borrow from Kant, "Theory without experience is empty; experience without theory is blind." Some of the reviews below illustrate why ethics (and philosophy generally) so desperately needs to be studied. Muddleheadedness is (frequently) a curable disease. Pojman is part of the cure, not the illness.

This is a great book. I purchased it for one of my ethics classes and have actually really enjoyed it. Having very "picky" view points (without going into biased detail), I often find myself disagreeing with textbooks and becoming frustrated towards the author's bias. This book is essentially a compilation of famous works and view points. They offer viewpoints of life of certain philosophers using their exact text and then offer counting viewpoints of those that disagree with their viewpoints. In short, if you already have pre-existing philosophical views, you'll surely find bastions of hope who will argue your case.

If you do not have any pre-existing views, this book will lay out the pros and cons of each one and help you develop your own philosophy.

The only downfall is that it is tough reading. You will be reading direct passages which were written centuries ago.

Item shipped next day. Received item quickly. Description was accurate. I am satisfied with the ending results of this purchase.

I bought this book twice: once because it was a required textbook (I loaned it to a fellow student the next semester, who somehow never got around to returning it. Maybe she liked it too much to return it. That's OK. She can keep it as a gift from me), and twice because I loved it (for its different but interesting philosophical approaches to making moral and ethical decisions). A very enjoyable and thought-provoking book.

Got here in 2 days, the day before I nedeed it for my Ethics class, absolutely great shipping. Liking the book so far.

Loved this book. Got it for a college course so we only went through parts of it. I put it aside for personal reading I loved it so much...

This book was supposed to be in good condition, well it was far from good, I would have said fair condition, and way more than gently used. The cost that was saved from new to used was not significant. I have purchased used books with a rating that was similar but the condition was excellent almsot new. So always buyer beware.