Product Description

Duty or Pleasure? This was the legendary choice which faced Hercules and which pre-eminent philosopher AC Grayling uses as the starting point of this masterful book. He shows us how much more people can understand about themselves and their world by reflecting on today's moral challenges. Above all, he explores the idea that certain demands and certain pleasures are necessary, not just because of their intrinsic merits but because of what they do for each other. The Good Life or the good life? With exceptional clarity and unrivalled prose, Grayling addresses the everyday ethical choices which confront us all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38781 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

Review
"persuasve and strangely consoling" (OBSERVER )

"an important, thought-provoking, kind and life-enhancing book... general philosophy at its accessible best" (TIMES )

"an admirably sensible book, soemtimes stirringly written" (Nicholas Lezard GUARDIAN )

"An enriching and thought-provoking read, it will leave you wondering about what a good and happy life really is." (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

About the Author
Anthony Grayling teaches philosophy at Birkbeck Colleage, London and is a Fellow of St Anne's, Oxford. He reviews frequently in the Financial Times and has a regular column in Prospect. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Customer Reviews

Duty and the Good Life in the 21st Century
The choice of Hercules {Pleasure, Duty and the Good Life in the 21st Century}
Taking as its theme a myth of the Greek God Hercules who denies two goddesses who are the personality of Pleasure for Duty, Hercules chooses duty. A C Grayling weaves his way through the labyrinth of issues that confront us in this new century of over population and global pollution by looking at ethics.
This book should be read by all politicians and people in positions of power and influence. Ethics and denial has been seen of late as being lost to this group of people, even though they believe that their way is the correct one. Denial caused by the perpetrator's ego causes many to fight for their own corner while the population becomes ever more disenchanted with the establishment. Meanwhile those elected and should know better sow the seeds of disintegration of our democratic ideals.
We believe that our system of democracy is the only way as the electorate swings to the right manifesting via our voting system.
A C Grayling speaking on human rights points out that "China claims that the concept of human rights is an imposition on the rest of the world by successors of the European Enlightenment, implying that human rights are not universal and that different traditions have different standards. This is nonsense on stilts, but is shared by too many, including some Muslim theocrats who do not wish to accept what the International Bill of Human Rights says about women. So there is still a fight to be fought in generalising the possession, exercise, and defence of human rights."
That this book will only be read by those interested in philosophy which is disheartening in a society which is more interested in voting for a TV Talent show rather than a democratic election on issues facing us all. After a war we don't make the defeated into slaves for a Roman Circus means that there has been slow progress over the centuries but the seeds of aggression lie dormant beneath the surface.
Paul Durcan in his poem Ireland 1972
"Next to the fresh grave of my beloved grandmother
The grave of my firstlove murdered by my brother."
When we realise that we all have similar desire of happiness and are tied together as brothers and sisters there is a little hope for the endeavour of a cultured life.