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In Search of Ethics: Conversations With Men and Women of Character
American society seems to be in a constant state of recovery from a series of attacks on our social and economic morals and ethics. From the never-ending embarassment of the Clinton sex scandals to the fall of such personalities as Martha Stewart, it seems that there is a new character challenge every day. Pick up a newspaper or listen to the evening news and you'll find something to stimulate discussion at the dinner table or around the boardroom table. This stimulating and inspirational book points out the quicksand that we all walk upon daily and illustrates his message with interviews and commentaries with some fascinating people who had to look moral and ethical challenges in the face and decide for themselves how they were going to handle their own Ethics Gate. Added to this edition are interviews with Charles Krulak, Vice Chairman of MBNA America Bank and Nancy Olivieri, MD, a Canadian physician who refused to turn a deaf ear on life-threatening drug testing on children and stood up for morality.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 17, 2020
This book is pretty much not worth the paper it's printed on. Every opinion stated in this book is conservative, Western, Judeo-Christian, white, privileged, male-centered and is basically just asking people: "What do you think makes a good person?" and then recording their literal, word for word interview responses. There is no discussion, or challenging of those beliefs. It's the laziest excuse for an ethical "search".
July 22, 2021
This volume came to hand at a used book sale a few years ago. It was apparently unread, although inscribed and signed. And written by a local resident. Worth a buck.
And finally, this week, worth a read. Sort of.
Generally, I have trouble with books that 'should' on me. A lot of that happens here. The plethora of quotations and life examples from people famous and not, added to the author's earnest desire to improve us, can't help but produce a lot of shoulding, and as a natural result, a certain amount of resistance. Between recipes for being better people, the prose is sadly pedestrian and the editing shameful.
First published 20 years ago, there are references to how things have degenerated in the years since about 1960 or 1980. Yes, the troubles faced by school teachers 'back then' were talking and gum chewing. By 2001 it had become fighting and drugs. Now it is guns and death.
I submit the trip to the social toilet began with the 18th Amendment, an effort by ethical, well-meaning people to regulate the moral lives of the rest of the country. 1909, 1930 and 1956, among other years, saw laws aimed at the prohibition of 'drugs', with President Richard Nixon prescribing more moral medicine for us in 1971, a date generally cited as the start of the War Against Drugs. It is also the date drug entrepreneurs look to as the beginning of their rise to huge wealth.
Neither shoulding people toward ethical behavior nor passing coercive laws will improve our lot. Exactly what will I can not say. Certainly, the more people who read books such as this one, the more people there will be who have the potential to live ethically effective lives. Perhaps the next title we need to look to is "Learning Effective Ethics".
Later editions were enlarged and thankfully lost the lighthouse on the cover. After all, lighthouses are beacons, not searchlights.
And finally, this week, worth a read. Sort of.
Generally, I have trouble with books that 'should' on me. A lot of that happens here. The plethora of quotations and life examples from people famous and not, added to the author's earnest desire to improve us, can't help but produce a lot of shoulding, and as a natural result, a certain amount of resistance. Between recipes for being better people, the prose is sadly pedestrian and the editing shameful.
First published 20 years ago, there are references to how things have degenerated in the years since about 1960 or 1980. Yes, the troubles faced by school teachers 'back then' were talking and gum chewing. By 2001 it had become fighting and drugs. Now it is guns and death.
I submit the trip to the social toilet began with the 18th Amendment, an effort by ethical, well-meaning people to regulate the moral lives of the rest of the country. 1909, 1930 and 1956, among other years, saw laws aimed at the prohibition of 'drugs', with President Richard Nixon prescribing more moral medicine for us in 1971, a date generally cited as the start of the War Against Drugs. It is also the date drug entrepreneurs look to as the beginning of their rise to huge wealth.
Neither shoulding people toward ethical behavior nor passing coercive laws will improve our lot. Exactly what will I can not say. Certainly, the more people who read books such as this one, the more people there will be who have the potential to live ethically effective lives. Perhaps the next title we need to look to is "Learning Effective Ethics".
Later editions were enlarged and thankfully lost the lighthouse on the cover. After all, lighthouses are beacons, not searchlights.
December 8, 2010
If you're looking for some pedantic treatment of the complex field of ethics, as at least one reviewer seemed to be, this is not your book.
Len Marrella shares a window on the minds and hearts of some interesting and highly ethical people. He poses the questions that many of us would find important had we each had the opportunity to meet some of these fascinating people.
What I most appreciated about this book is that Marrella is not preaching at us. He obviously injects his personal values as part of his commentary, but he also presents a fairly wide range of thinking by introducing us to people from various social, political and to a degree, ethical backgrounds. His own acknowledgement of his reverence for the Code of Honor he learned and later exemplified as a leader at West Point, his involvement with the Institute for Global Ethics and his vast experience in applied ethics through his experiences in business give us insight into his personal viewpoint, but I did not feel as if he was imposing this viewpoint on the reader. He offered it as a gift to be accepted or not.
Having said that, Marrella is obviously not an ethical relativist. While allowing plenty of room for constructive dissent, there is a strong through-line here: Integrity. Without debating the academic subtleties of formal ethical study, he gives us some room to listen to people he identifies as people of high ethical character and allows us to find where and if their lives offer some useful place in our own.
The research and caring involved in this project is impressive to say the least; again without going off on a pedogogic rant. He's giving us a slice of life view of some people you'll recognize, and others you won't. It's too easy these days to go to the celebrities and elevate them to guru status. Marrella introduces us to some people who dedicated their lives to working in obscurity and others who kept their humility despite incredible fame and good fortune.
Marrella provides a sound introduction to some basic ethical principles, but again this is not neccessarily for the scholar but to make sure anyone struggling to understand and apply ethics in real life will have a solid foundation that makes his interviews even more accessible.
When you get right down to it, ethics is not about academia. It's about how everyday people decide what is right and what is wrong, how they make decisions and how they live with the consequences.
Len Marrella introduces us to some remarkable companions in our search for living an ethical life!
Len Marrella shares a window on the minds and hearts of some interesting and highly ethical people. He poses the questions that many of us would find important had we each had the opportunity to meet some of these fascinating people.
What I most appreciated about this book is that Marrella is not preaching at us. He obviously injects his personal values as part of his commentary, but he also presents a fairly wide range of thinking by introducing us to people from various social, political and to a degree, ethical backgrounds. His own acknowledgement of his reverence for the Code of Honor he learned and later exemplified as a leader at West Point, his involvement with the Institute for Global Ethics and his vast experience in applied ethics through his experiences in business give us insight into his personal viewpoint, but I did not feel as if he was imposing this viewpoint on the reader. He offered it as a gift to be accepted or not.
Having said that, Marrella is obviously not an ethical relativist. While allowing plenty of room for constructive dissent, there is a strong through-line here: Integrity. Without debating the academic subtleties of formal ethical study, he gives us some room to listen to people he identifies as people of high ethical character and allows us to find where and if their lives offer some useful place in our own.
The research and caring involved in this project is impressive to say the least; again without going off on a pedogogic rant. He's giving us a slice of life view of some people you'll recognize, and others you won't. It's too easy these days to go to the celebrities and elevate them to guru status. Marrella introduces us to some people who dedicated their lives to working in obscurity and others who kept their humility despite incredible fame and good fortune.
Marrella provides a sound introduction to some basic ethical principles, but again this is not neccessarily for the scholar but to make sure anyone struggling to understand and apply ethics in real life will have a solid foundation that makes his interviews even more accessible.
When you get right down to it, ethics is not about academia. It's about how everyday people decide what is right and what is wrong, how they make decisions and how they live with the consequences.
Len Marrella introduces us to some remarkable companions in our search for living an ethical life!
October 1, 2008
It is a great book. EAch story ties into a particular "peice" of the Ethics "pie." Gives a lot of information about how each person displayed their ethical beliefs, which got them a chapter in this bood. It's an easy read too. And lastly, it explains how West Point is one of the main developers of ethics with it's cut and dry honor code, "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews