The Reading List
This thread will be a repository for links to books on or related to ethics or morality. I certainly have not read all these titles, and listing them here does not imply endorsement of them. I add them here for informational purposes only. Please feel free to add any titles you may come across.
If you have nothing to add now, please select FOLLOW so that you can be informed of any new additions. I will start with these.
The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
De Waal (Chimpanzee Politics), a renowned primatologist, culls an astounding volume of research that deflates the human assumption that animals lack the characteristics often referred to as humane. He cites recent animal behavior studies that challenge the primacy of human logic and put animals on a closer behavioral footing with humans. Based on the studies of mammals, from primates to mice, de Waal proposes that empathy is an instinctual behavior exhibited by both lab rats and elephants. But de Waal's aim isn't merely to show that apes are transactional creatures with a basic understanding of reciprocity—but to reveal that the idea that humans are naturally calculating, competitive and violent is grounded in a falsehood willfully and selfishly perpetuated. Throughout the book, de Waal illustrates how behaving more like our wild mammalian cousins may just save humanity. His contention, colored by philosophical musings and fascinating anecdotes of observed emotional connections between animals, argues persuasively that humans are not greedy or belligerent because animals are; such traits are far from organic or inevitable but patently manmade.
Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others
What accounts for our remarkable ability to get inside another person's head--to know what he or she is thinking and feeling? Marco Iacoboni, a leading neuroscientist, explains the groundbreaking research into mirror neurons, the "smart cells" in our brain that allow us to understand others. From imitation to morality, from political affiliations to consumer choices, mirror neurons are relevant to myriad aspects of social cognition. Mirroring People is the first book for the general reader on this revolutionary new science.
Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals
In Good Natured Frans de Waal, ethologist and primatologist, asks us to reconsider human morality in light of moral aspects that can be identified in animals. Within the complex negotiations of human society, a moral action may involve thoughts and feelings of guilt, reciprocity, obligation, expectations, rules, or community concern. De Waal finds these aspects of morality prevalent in other animal societies, mostly primate, and suggests that the two philosophical camps supporting nature and nurture may have to be disbanded in order to adequately understand human morality. A theoretician, de Waal is meticulous in his research, cautious not to extrapolate too much from his findings, and logically sound in his arguments. He also writes with precision and a flair for the dramatic, carrying readers along with graceful ease and vivid examples.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on -
I just finished reading this book. It is basically a really long essay followed by some appendices. These are then followed by critiques from other scientists about the intitial essay. Pretty decent concept for de Waal to allow his ideas to be contested in his own book. De Waal strikes me as a competent, thorough, and thoughtful scientist. I'm not really qualified to critique his research, but in my opinion, this is a book worth reading. I am attaching a scan of the TOC and the Introduction. - Dallas
Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved
Celebrated primatologist de Waal expands on his earlier work in Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals to argue that human traits of fairness, reciprocity and altruism develop through natural selection. Based on his 2004 Tanner Lectures at Princeton, this book argues that our morality grows out of the social instincts we share with bonobos, chimpanzees and apes. De Waal criticizes what he calls the "veneer theory," which holds that human ethics is simply an overlay masking our "selfish and brutish nature." De Waal draws on his own work with primates to illustrate the evolution of morality. For example, chimpanzees are more favorably disposed to others who have performed a service for them (such as grooming) and more likely to share their food with these individuals. In three appendixes, de Waal ranges briefly over anthropomorphism, apes and a theory of mind, and animal rights. The volume also includes responses to de Waal by Robert Wright, Christine M. Korsgaard, Philip Kitcher and Peter Singer. Although E.O. Wilson and Robert Wright have long contended that altruism is a product of evolution, de Waal demonstrates through his empirical work with primates the evolutionary basis for ethics. - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on
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Haven't read, just passing along. - DG
Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It
Max H. Bazerman & Ann E. Tenbrunsel
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to. From the collapse of Enron and corruption in the tobacco industry, to sales of the defective Ford Pinto and the downfall of Bernard Madoff, the authors investigate the nature of ethical failures in the business world and beyond, and illustrate how we can become more ethical, bridging the gap between who we are and who we want to be.
Explaining why traditional approaches to ethics don't work, the book considers how blind spots like ethical fading--the removal of ethics from the decision--making process--have led to tragedies and scandals such as the Challenger space shuttle disaster, steroid use in Major League Baseball, the crash in the financial markets, and the energy crisis. The authors demonstrate how ethical standards shift, how we neglect to notice and act on the unethical behavior of others, and how compliance initiatives can actually promote unethical behavior. Distinguishing our "should self" (the person who knows what is correct) from our "want self" (the person who ends up making decisions), the authors point out ethical sinkholes that create questionable actions.
Suggesting innovative individual and group tactics for improving human judgment, Blind Spots shows us how to secure a place for ethics in our workplaces, institutions, and daily lives.
Max H. Bazerman is the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is the author and coauthor of many books, including Negotiation Genius. Ann E. Tenbrunsel is the Rex and Alice A. Martin Professor of Business Ethics at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame. She is the coeditor of several books, including Codes of Conduct.
Reviews:
"Blind Spots is a bold argument against the decency of human beings, showing how we subvert our ethical principles time and time again. Noting a human tendency to justify our own actions to ourselves with little thought for their consequences, business professors Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel explain how employees can give rise to dysfunctional organizations for fear of rocking the boat. . . . The authors adopt a lively tone throughout and harness a broad mix of examples, from lab experiments to the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster and the collapse of Enron."--Gregor Hunter, The National
"In an era where we've watched political leaders tell blatant lies and seen the corporate world nearly sunk by an onslaught of questionable ethics, it's time to take a sober look at why people who think of themselves as moral can commit unethical and even unlawful acts--or approve the dishonest acts of others. . . . [T]his is examined in the recent book Blind Spots, by Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel, professor of business ethics at the University of Notre Dame."--Toronto Star
"The style [of Blind Spots] is incisive and reassuringly uningratiating."--Steven Poole, The Guardian
"Bazerman . . . and . . . Tenbrunsel . . . set out to show that if we are to make ethical decisions, we need to recognize such blind spots in ourselves as our failure to view our own immoral actions objectively and our tendency to act based on how we want to behave rather than on how we should."--Susan Schwartz, Montreal Gazette
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: The Gap between Intended and Actual Ethical Behavior 1
Chapter 2: Why Traditional Approaches to Ethics Won't Save You 24
Chapter 3: When We Act against Our Own Ethical Values 38
Chapter 4: Why You Aren't as Ethical as You Think You Are 61
Chapter 5: When We Ignore Unethical Behavior 77
Chapter 6: Placing False Hope in the "Ethical Organization" 100
Chapter 7: Why We Fail to Fix Our Corrupted Institutions 128
Chapter 8: Narrowing the Gap: Interventions for Improving Ethical Behavior 152 -
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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on
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Book titles I've recently come across as citations in an article. I've not read these, so this is not an endorsement. Just passing the info along. - Dallas
Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?
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Frans de Waal's Bottom-Up Morality: We're Not Good Because Of God
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