Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

And so professional philosopher Simon Blackburn has given us _Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics_ (Oxford University Press). He has distilled thousands of years of thinking on ethical issues by various philosophers into a slim book. It may not be a Guide for Living covering every situation, but it is an admirable introduction about how philosophers think about such matters, and where we ought to look for ethical answers. His book is witty and pithy, and demonstrates that thinking about big ideas can be fun. But we are largely on our own in this endeavor. Socrates, in Plato's _Euthyphro_, provided the classic challenge to the idea that ethics must have a religious foundation. Whatever gods there are that choose right and wrong for us cannot do so arbitrarily; they have to select such things correctly. Most gods have a system that demonstrates that we should act correctly because of fear of punishment if we don't, or desire for reward if we do. This distorts behavior into "a religious cost-benefit analysis." Kant said true virtue was living up to a rule out of respect for that rule, not on post-mortem consequences. It is up to us to make judgements on what rules are worth living up to. Blackburn takes us through the pitfalls of relativism, that there is no one truth but only the different truths of different communities and times. He discusses our current obsession with rights, and even includes as an appendix the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human rights. Death, birth, desire, and pleasure all have chapters in his work, all fitting essays within the larger whole.

Hume (whom Blackburn seems mostly to follow) said that rational, scientific proof of the virtue of an action is not possible. Blackburn does not despair over what others have seen as this unsafe or uncomforting doctrine. We share some values, and we can judge actions as reasonable or not by referring to those shared values. Blackburn (again with Hume) argues that the ultimate standard for judging an action is its capacity to promote happiness. He unites this with the modern philosophical ideas of contracts between humans and the state, both caring about such things as liberty and safety, in a dialogue to find common points of view. Blackburn's view is optimistic. We have made progress with sensitivity to the environment, to sexual differences, and to toleration of cultural differences. "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."

The second section discusses particular attitudes about ethical issues including birth, death, desire and the meaning of life, pleasure, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, freedom from the bad, freedom and paternalism, and rights and natural rights. This second section is the weakest and seems to be ill connected to the other two. This weakness is there despite the fact that the author is talking about such hot topics as abortion and euthanasia.

The third section looks at the larger question of whether the idea of ethics rests on anything at all. This I believe is the topic that unsettles most people. The thinking goes that without a basis there is no reason for ethics. Mr. Blackburn shows this to not be the case. Mr. Blackburn believes people should actively engage in ethical dialogue in an effort to arrive at a common point of view for making ethical decisions. This of course means that there is no guarantee that such conversation will be successful, but at least there is a chance, and without such a dialogue, there is no chance at all.

The book is demanding of its reader. It demands that one actually look at one's ethical system and see it for what it is.