A Decent Life

Morality for the Rest of Us

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Pub Date 22 Mar 2019 | Archive Date 01 May 2019

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Description

You’re probably never going to be a saint. Even so, let’s face it: you could be a better person. We all could. But what does that mean for you?
 
In a world full of suffering and deprivation, it’s easy to despair—and it’s also easy to judge ourselves for not doing more. Even if we gave away everything we own and devoted ourselves to good works, it wouldn’t solve all the world’s problems. It would make them better, though. So is that what we have to do? Is anything less a moral failure? Can we lead a fundamentally decent life without taking such drastic steps?
 
Todd May has answers. He’s not the sort of philosopher who tells us we have to be model citizens who display perfect ethics in every decision we make. He’s realistic: he understands that living up to ideals is a constant struggle. In A Decent Life, May leads readers through the traditional philosophical bases of a number of arguments about what ethics asks of us, then he develops a more reasonable and achievable way of thinking about them, one that shows us how we can use philosophical insights to participate in the complicated world around us. He explores how we should approach the many relationships in our lives—with friends, family, animals, people in need—through the use of a more forgiving, if no less fundamentally serious, moral compass. With humor, insight, and a lively and accessible style, May opens a discussion about how we can, realistically, lead the good life that we aspire to.
 
A philosophy of goodness that leaves it all but unattainable is ultimately self-defeating. Instead, Todd May stands at the forefront of a new wave of philosophy that sensibly reframes our morals and redefines what it means to live a decent life.

You’re probably never going to be a saint. Even so, let’s face it: you could be a better person. We all could. But what does that mean for you?
 
In a world full of suffering and deprivation, it’s...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780226609744
PRICE $27.00 (USD)
PAGES 232

Average rating from 7 members


Featured Reviews

I'm not certain why I initially was drawn to this book. I don't usually go for philosophical works that become complicated by their own meandering topics. This was different. I was drawn into the discussion, just as I imagine Dr. Todd May draws students into discussions within his classrooms. He begins with a review of some of the more theoretical aspects of decency and morality and so forth, but he does it in a way that kept me with him and I continued on into the later chapters that really get into more "bread and butter" topics, like how do you apply the theoretical to real life, especially in this day and age when everyone seems to want to be on one team or the other with zero commonality?
I really appreciated the eye-opening views covered in chapter three: "Widening the Circle" and chapter five: "Politics and Decency". Both of these chapters were a refreshing look at how to think about treating our fellow human beings, how to care for the environment and how to be civil in a discordant environment. There were some terrific examples of these scenarios that occur in all of our daily lives that we can choose to handle one way or another and how to think about what would be a moral, decent approach to a given situation.
This will be a book that I go back to I'm sure and consider the ideas repeatedly.
Thank you Dr. May for this jam-packed book that has me thinking.

#ADecentLife #NetGalley

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Academically speaking, this book was such a huge help. At the time I was reading A Decent Life, my ethics class professor had asked us to write an essay about what a good life meant to us. I mean, what a coincidence! So I powered through this book and then I proceeded to write the essay, fully equipped from having read the book. But also personally speaking, this book helped me a lot, too.

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