ETHICS: The Drama of the Moral Life

We highly recommend this brilliant, modern, clear and lucid book. Classical ethics that part of philosophy which deals with morality (how we should act), derived from reason - has been stripped from nearly all school curricula since WWII, resulting in a generation that knows little to nothing of the rational bases for moral behavior and decision-making. The horrifying consequences threaten all citizens (e.g., Columbine, the drug culture, promiscuity, rampant dishonesty in business, etc.). No high school student should be ignorant of ethics because no student can avoid making choices in the moral realm. It is an injustice to deprive young people of the knowledge of how to reason and judge such choices, or, even worse, by silence to imply no rational bases for making moral decisions exist.

The authors make a clear distinction between religion and classical ethics derived from reason. While both are practising Catholics and have a great respect for Divine revelation, they also recognize the need in our pluralistic society for a presentation of basic moral principles that can be grasped without resorting to a particular religious faith. Further, being taught a religious moral system without understanding the rational basis underlying it simply invites a superficial compliance with seemingly irrational and arbitrary rules and regulations. By contrast, students who understand the rational basis for ethics are able to appreciate the beauty of religious expression of ethical principles they can make sense of morality and understand how to apply moral principles.

Furthermore, an understanding of the natural virutes is germane and important to every society, whether secular or religious, including Christian societies. The development of ethics was outlined by classical Greek and Roman philosophers, principally Aristotle, yet it is perpetually relevant and provides its students with the means to answer crucial and sometimes complex moral dilemmas they cannot avoid in modern life.

The authors, Professors Anderson and Jaroszynski, have done a marvelous work in bringing a classical ethics text to life. We believe, offering this course may be one of the two or three most important modern educational innovations/restorations and educational offerings of the Angelicum Academy. If you do not plan to use our Good Books, nor the Great Books, nor the Socratic method, nor anything else we offer, nevertheless do order this one book and have your student read it. It alone can justify and make his or her entire homeschooling experience worthwhile. From the Preface:

Castel Gandolfo, >September 20, 1997

Dear Professor,

After acquainting myself with the book, Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life which was given to me, I would like to thank the author from the bottom of my heart as well for his dedication to me. May God reward him! May God?s blessing accompany Professor Jaroszynski in his scientific and didactic work.

May God bless!

John Paul II

[The author was a personal friend of the great Saint Pope John Paul II, who also taught Ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin, and told him Ethics was his favorite work by Professor Jaroszynski.]

The study of the nature of moral choices has been with us as far back as our historical memory and religious traditions can reach. We have inherited the foundations of that study from such great philosophers and pillars of Western culture as Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. This work draws on this rich tradition and provides a new and profound look at those aspects of human moral conduct which are both obvious and true. Chapters include: Good and End: The Object of Human Acts; The Hierarchy of the Good; The Moral Being -- The Decision; The Mode of Human Conduct -- Areteology. This chapter studies the virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice (Legal, Commutative and Distributive), as well as the interconnection of the virtues and the theory of natural law (Do Good!). A conclusion regarding morality and religion is rounded off by a helpful lexicon and a bibliography of supplemental readings.

REVIEWS OF THE BOOK: "After acquainting myself with the book Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life which was given to me, I would also like to thank the author from my heart for his dedication to me. May God reward him! May God's blessing accompany Professor Jaroszynski in his scientific and didactic work. God bless! --John Paul II, Castel Gandolfo, September 20, 1997 "Concisely and clearly written, this book offers an attracive synthesis of classical virtue ethics with a Christian ethic of love. Restricting itself to basic principles, it is well suited to introduce undergraduate students to the great tradition of ethical thinking which underlies much of our Western civilization." --Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Laurence J. McGinley Professor, Fordham University

"Technology is progressive. We cannot de-invent the light bulb. Yet we can lose sight of the moral discoveries that have been made over the centuries. We now live in an 'air conditioned nightmare,' as the playwright Arthur Miller has observed. Our great need, then, at the present moment, is to recover the classical ethics that has already been discovered. Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life is worthy of high praise for contributing to this most important endeavor. And it does so in a manner that is concise, cogent, and compelling." --Dr. Donald DeMarco, Professor of Philosophy, St. Jerome's University

"This book offers an excellent and sober presentation of classical ethics, as outlined by Greek and Roman philosophers and further developed by Christian thinkers. The classical framework shows itself to be very modern in its ability to answer the crucial moral problems of everyday life and guide people in solving moral dilemmas. Written in a clear and communicative style, Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life will be very advantageously read even by people not accustomed to the philosophical language" --Dr. Vittorio Possenti, Professor of Philosophy, University of Venice

"Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life by Piotr Jaroszynski and Mathew Anderson has as its basic premise the idea that morality is permanently and essentially inscribed in human life and that each person constantly faces moments of decision. There is danger in our being subject to the pressures of different ideologies and customs, but when we know the foundations of ethics, we become more sensitive to moral issues and the moral implications of our decisions." --Review for Religious, 63.2.2004

Piotr Jaroszynski (born 1955) holds the Chair of the Philosophy of Culture at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. He works within the framework of classical philosophy. He belongs to the American Catholic Philosophical Association, American Maritain Association and the International Society of Thomas Aquinas. He has written numerous articles and several scholarly books, including The Controversy Over Beauty (1992, 2002 in Polish), Metaphysics and Art (Peter Lang, 2002), and Science and Culture (Rodopi, 2003), as well as many books for a broader public. For his textbook Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life (6th ed., 2002), he received the personal thanks of Pope John Paul II.

Mathew Anderson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Ave Maria College of the Americas at San Marcos, Nicaragua and has taught at both Gannon University in Erie, PA and Niagara University near Buffalo, NY. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Ontario and the Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands. He has publications in philosophical psychology, education, ethics and epistemology, and is a member of several philosophical organizations.

Angelicum's Ethics Course: Ethics ~ The Drama of the Moral Life by Piotr Jaroszynski and Mathew Anderson