An Intelligent Person's Guide to Ethics

by Mary Warnock

Even before its publication, opinions expressed in this highly controversial book about ethics caused uproar among thinkers and campaigners of different persuasions such as Mary Whitehouse, Ann Widdecombe and Dominic Lawson, editor of the Sunday Telegraph. In no uncertain terms the highly respected philosopher and public figure Lady Warnock explains in this book how to distinguish right from wrong in areas from euthanasia to abortion, Down’s Syndrome, education and genetic engineering. Drawing on remarkably lucid examples from her personal and political life, Lady Warnock illustrates difficult cases to make her point succinctly and persuasively. She clarifies where she stands in relation to the philosophers of ethics in a concise and through-provoking way. This book is essential reading for students and those who want to keep up with the latest developments in the debates that rage in out complicated modern world.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, DBE, FBA is a British philosopher of morality, education and mind, and writer on existentialism.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 2 out of 5]

031111: i enjoyher early chapters but it feels sort of polemic when she begins to refer to postmodernism. pomo = everything bad.

[Javier Maldonado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primero que todo, ésta no es una guía en el sentido que uno tendería a esperar. Acá no hay recetas ni mandamientos ni consejos para el lector casual. En ese sentido, Mary Warnock (una real autoridad en el tema y si no me cree parta con google como referencia) lo que propone más bien es una profunda reflexión en torno a qué deberíamos entender por ética, tanto desde un punto de vista individual como político. Disfruté particularmente la aguda crítica que hace en el último capítulo a intelectuales posmodernos como Foucault y Derrida (entre otros), cuya particular visión del mundo parece ser incompatible (de acuerdo a Warnock) con el desarrollo de una ética universal. A lo que apunta la autora en definitiva es a ser, como hubiera dicho Aristóteles, buenos especímenes de la humanidad. Buenos, desde una postura ética, desde la elección consciente de hacer el bien, sea lo que sea que eso signifique para cada uno.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of an odd pairing of books my daughter picked off a remainder table somewhere--the other was on infidelity!!! I got more out the beginning of this book, where the author discussed some hypothetical cases, than the rest. On the whole, though, I was disappointed. I think I was expecting a discussion of what kind of ethical considerations one needed to bring to life--so to speak, what the hard choices were and how one goes about making them. Instead, the author spends page after page discussing what words like "right" mean, and page after page arguing philosophical theories and trying to prove or disprove them. Why waste time discussing determinism in a book like this? It doesn't really matter if it is true: in order to live well, one must act as though it isn't. Furthermore, the author's own biases come through clearly, yet she never really discusses her reasoning, leaving one with the nasty feeling that if you disagree with her, she'd say you were clearly in the wrong. On the whole, this book is really about the theory of what "ethics" means, rather than a guide to ethics as the title proclaims.

[Autumn Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

In what universe is this an "intelligent" person's guide to ethics?

[Javier Maldonado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído en el 2017.

[Allen Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come

[Alejandra Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Útil para personas que diseñan políticas o redactan leyes, sirve para entender la diferencia entre la moral publica y privada, cuales de nuestras creencias o reglas por las que guiamos nuestra vida podemos asumir que rigen a los demás y cuales no. El libro no da ninguna respuesta a estas preguntas, pero te plantea con ejemplos las disyuntivas que se presentan para poder pensar por nosotros mismos la respuesta. Me gusto que muchas veces tuve que detener la lectura para pensar un rato acerca de lo que estaba leyendo y no muchos libros logran eso.

[David Gross · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because I’d really enjoyed Warnock’s Ethics Since 1900. This one, though, reads more like it was written by the “Ethics” columnist for a newspaper than by a philosopher.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've learned that a proper British reserve is a healthy way to approach any tumultuous issue of life or love.

[Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skim/read through this over the past 6 months. Dame Warnock makes a lot of sense with her useful views on difficult ethical subjects.