How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living ANNOTATION
When you're late for work, do you stop to help a stranded motorist? Do you vote for a policy that helps America but throws your neighbor out of work? Complicated choices like these are some of the toughest dilemmas people face. Now, a former senior columnist for the Christian Science Monitor shows how to find the right answers to even the toughest ethical problems.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
How Good People Make Tough Choices offers the practical tools for careful deliberation of the ethical predicaments of daily living. It is a book for those who want to address and resolve tough choices through energetic self-reflection.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Founder of the Institute for Global Ethics in Camden, Maine, Kidder, a former columnist for the Christian Science Monitor, has conducted seminars on how to make ethical choices for corporate, academic, professional and governmental clients. This pragmatic, enlightening handbook on resolving moral dilemmas is filled with real-life examples from his work. For instance, should Executive A give a letter of recommendation to former Co-worker B, who was fired after being implicated in financial irregularities (when A believes B may have been unfairly dismissed)? Should a teacher pressured by worried parents divulge something their son has told her in confidence? In some of the situations discussed, immediate short-term needs or desires run counter to long-term goals; in others, individual rights clash with community well-being, or integrity and honesty vie with commitments and promises. This clearsighted manual will help readers cut through a welter of contextual detail to focus on core values. (Jan.)
Library Journal
Founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, Kidder (Agenda for the 21st Century, LJ 2/15/88) presents his philosophy, principles, and modus operandi of ethical decision-making. He first examines how to make right vs. right decisions, i.e., how to handle those troubling dilemmas where there is no real "wrong" decision. He then elaborates on the paradigms of truth vs. loyalty, individual vs. community concerns, short-term vs. long-term consequences, and justice vs. mercy, giving many examples. Kidder's chapters on ethical fitness and core values are the most important and interesting sections. Looking beyond the individual, Kidder believes that a code of ethics provides shared reference points for a society and that without such a code the society will perish. He has no grand design, however, just a clear method for identifying and working though the knotty problems of everyday life. The importance of the topic and the accessibility of the text recommend this title for most libraries.-Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss.
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