ETHICS: The Drama of the Moral Life

ETHICS: The Drama of the Moral Life

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.

“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 bye 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

“Concisely and clearly written, this book offers an attractive 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, SJ, Laurence J. McGinley Professor, Fordham University.

About the Authors:
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 in Culture (Rodopi, 2003), as well as many books for the broader public. For his textbook Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life (6th ed., 2002), the 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 espistemology. He is a member of several philosophical organizations.