Product Description

It is not only in our dark hours that scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism dog ethics. Whether it is a matter of giving to charity, or sticking to duty, or insisting on our rights, we can be confused, or be paralysed by the fear that our principles are groundless. Many are afraid that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and aggressive. Simon Blackburn, author of the best-selling Think, structures this short introduction around these and other threats to ethics. Confronting seven different objections to our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures, he charts a course through the philosophical quicksands that often engulf us. Then, turning to problems of life and death, he shows how we should think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the sound-bite sized absolutes that often dominate moral debates. Finally he offers a critical tour of the ways the philosophical tradition has tried to provide foundations for ethics, from Plato and Aristotle through to contemporary debates.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33628 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 172 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Being Good is not your typical ethics book: its sleek physical dimensions mirror Simon Blackburn's intelligent but unencumbered treatment of the main threats and origins of ethics. Blackburn addresses the fear that "ethical claims are a kind of sham" before sketching a roadmap of the history of ethics, its practical consequences, and ultimate foundations. All this is an ambitious task for such a diminutive volume.

Simon Blackburn, a professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, is one of the giants of contemporary moral theory and a trustworthy guide through its labyrinth. He prefers parsimony to complexity--helpful for readers with only a casual acquaintance with philosophy--and yet he manages to avoid trivialising his subject matter. Moreover, Being Good is wonderfully enlivened by illustrations by Paul Klee, William Blake, Eugene Delacroix, Francisco de Goya, and even Vietnam war photography and cartoons. Blackburn concludes on a promising note: "If we are careful, and mature, and imaginative, and fair, and nice, and lucky, the moral mirror in which we gaze at ourselves may not show us saints. But it need not show us monsters, either." --Eric de Place

About the Author
Simon Blackburn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Until recently he was Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, and from 1969 to 1990 a Fellow and Tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford. His books include Spreading the Word (1984), Essays in Quasi-Realism (1993), The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), Ruling Passions (1998), Truth (co-edited with Keith Simmons,
1999), and the best-selling Think (1999). He edited the journal Mind from 1984 to 1990.

Customer Reviews

As simple an introduction as possible, but no simpler
If, like me, you're a general reader with an interest in broadening your understanding of the way we think about the world, this book is indispensable.

I found the subject matter covered in 'Being Good' to be more practical than in 'Think', Blackburn's excellent introduction to Philosophy. Everyday ethical issues such as tolerance, faith, elitism, abortion and euthanasia demand more attention than questions on, say, the existence of gods or the nature of the self.

Blackburn writes with astonishing balance, subtlety and poise. He draws together, in a coherent, distilled structure, a variety of treatments and viewpoints: he necessarily sketches a wide overview, yet he also manages to include rigorous detail and historical context by quoting directly from sources. At times, he adds modern context by venturing his own original views, but always in a way that gives the reader space to draw her own conclusions. Rarely does an accomplished academic have such an ability to teach and popularize his subject.

The power of the book lies in its brevity. Frequent review of the main arguments results in the gaining of a set of invaluable contemporary thinking tools. So the next time someone says to me: 'That's just your opinion', I'll have a fully developed line of argument against that pernicious conversation stopper, 'relativism'. And for busy people who don't have time to plough through all the literature, 'Being Good' could be the only ethical guidebook they ever need.

An elegantly written short introduction to ethics.
This is a concise, elegant little book written in a fluent, almost conversational style. It is also a scholarly book: the author wears his learning lightly.

The book contains 12 unusual and apposite illustrations, and contains as Appendix the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights. Part I of this short book is called Seven Threats to Ethics, Part II is called Some Ethical Ideas, Part III is called Foundations.

I enjoyed this book. The book is written concisely, and the author makes his points clearly and vividly. His remarks on the meaning of life (p.80) I found life-enhancing.

The book covers a lot of ground in a short space, and I am tempted to make comparisons with Principia Ethica by G E Moore, Ethics by Nowell-Smith, and the section on Ethics in Language, Truth & Logic by A J Ayer. Simon Blackburn's book compares very well with these three classics. His book is far more readable and contains a number of astute observations. The overall tone of the book is sane and cautiously up-beat.

Strongly recommended !

A readable introduction to Ethics
Blackburn has managed to create an intelligent introduction to the main questions without forgetting that his core readers are beginners.