A hallmark of Western culture is a massive moral confusion, rendering
the very idea of virtue "exotic and incomprehensible." McInerny here
drags the conversation back to the beginning, establishing the terms and
the tools of what it means to think and to do what is moral. As he
asserts, the virtuous life and the moral life are one and the same. To
be moral is to be good, and the goodness of one's acts reflects the
fundamentals of thought placed in the service of a pursuit of a virtuous
life. Why is the concept of a virtuous life so foreign to many? We do
not know the basics of a moral life. As McInerny states, "To be good we
have to know what that means."
The two biggest judgments one will make during life pertain to knowing
what is good, what is bad, and the difference between the two. This
bleeds into a study of morality and ethics when it pertains to concrete
acts, but in reality all aspects of our lives bear on these judgments.
"Being ethical is not simply a state of mind, it is a state of being, a
way of living one's life that reflects the fundamental principles of
ethics [...] [it is one] who lives in a certain way." Nevertheless,
the subject of this book focuses on ethics--namely, the goodness or
badness of human acts. McInerny's great reason for writing this work is
to teach the reader that he or she cannot properly tackle ethical
questions (even if they are not identified as such) if one is not
himself or herself actually ethical (living virtuously).
Writing very much as a teacher of teachers, McInerny relies on the
foundations of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, as well as his late
brother, Ralph McInerny, to reiterate the principles of ethics that
inform both thought and act. To speak of ethics, then, is to admit a
commitment to virtue and how the theoretical distinction of good and bad
is necessarily practical. Acting well will lead to thinking better, but
McInerny notes that culture has lost sight of the former and thereby the
coherency to address ethical questions. Being Ethical aims to correct
this disconnect in forty-eight cogent lessons.
Being Ethical is fundamentally intended to serve as a sequel to D. Q.
McInerny's Being Logical (Random House, 2004), which has remained in
print and has been translated into six languages. Its style lends itself
to being used as a textbook in liberal studies. More generally, it is a
refreshing presentation of this topic and timely and timeless
exhortation to readers of the necessity of a love of virtue for ethical
thought. For friends and students of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and Ralph
McInerny, this book bears a style and manner that is both familiar and
much loved.
