The best
Ethics & Morality eBooks:
Reddit reviews
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The best of Ethics & Morality eBooks by number of unique Reddit comments:
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Ethics & Morality eBooks:
Check out The Righteous Mind, a great and deep analysis of morality.
One of the takeaways I found fascinating is not that liberals and conservatives align differently on morality -- that's not really a surprise -- but that conservatives overall consider multiple different categories very important (e.g. sanctity, authority), while liberals HEAVILY consider fairness as a category that far outweighs the other moralities.
The short version is, it may feel satisfying to say that "Democrats will be fine with all that shit" and just sweep it under the rug, but I don't think that statement is true. I think the Democratic approach to leadership has plenty of its own flaws, but fairness is not one of them. I think Democrats tend to hold their own to higher expectations of fairness behavior than what we're seeing in the GOP.
(mods, please remove if my source is bad)
I like the book The Righteous Mind and its discussion of morality. One of the points it makes is that being loyal to one's tribe and obeying authority are deeply moral matters for some people - and that those are more important then being nice, or being fair. The President is the head of a group they identify with and thus they are loyal.
Have you heard of Negative Visualization?
Pause now and then to consider the state of your life. Think of the people you love and the things you value. If you love someone, consider how you’d fare without them. If you have a great ride, think how you’d do on a bicycle or bus pass. Think of how bored you’d be if you could no longer do whatever hobbies you enjoy. Ponder the changes that a sudden loss of health would bring. This can help prepare you for an unexpected loss or change, although nothing will ever really prevent grief. More importantly, it should help you appreciate your circumstances and the people around you more, and make you content with the life you already live.
You seem dismissive of meditation and books, which seems odd for a question like this, but the first I’d recommend would be A Guide to the Good Life.
I wanted to recommend this one... written by a philosophy professor, it's very accessible and made a big difference for me. It's sort of an intro to stoicism.
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic-ebook/dp/B0040JHNQG/ref=sr_1_3?
Secondly--- I own a business with a seasonal slow period. For 3-4 months each year I more or less don't have to work. I have been fighting that strange guilt sensation for so long. I know exactly what you mean.
It's hard to do anything different from what EVERYBODY else is doing. But it doesn't mean we are wrong to do it. Stoicism has helped me accept that it's perfectly natural that I would feel strange given that my lifestyle is so different from pretty much everyone else's.
There's a theory of psychology that due to the millenia of generations of survival of the fittest, our brains are hard wired to worry. It's only been for the last few generations that a good portion of the human population could live without having to be on guard constantly against death by wild animals, starvation from crop failures/not finding food to hunt, small wounds becoming infected and killing you, etc.
Those of us alive today are the descendants of the ones who DID worry enough about the dangers in the world to survive through them long enough to have kids and keep them alive too. The ones less inclined to worry would have survived less often. So you could say many of us were bred through natural selection to be peak worriers.
Today our world no longer requires this level of worry, but we're stuck with brains which are built to be anxiously aware. Our brains will create those feelings even when our lives do not require any worry at all.
I read a great book on Stoicism a few years ago I really enjoyed. I think it definitely helps keep these anxious feelings in perspective. Step 1 for me is to accept that those feelings are entirely normal and not something I need to fight agains. u/cagarsalvagemente you might enjoy this book!
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic-ebook/dp/B0040JHNQG
I'm not going to put details on the internet, but buy this book, read it, and understand that there are genuinely evil people in the world who will use these tactics against you: 48 Laws of Power. You cannot defend yourself against those people if you don't understand their tactics yourself.
Here's a summary of the laws: https://www.tke.org/files/file/The_48_Laws_of_Power.pdf
This is the 101 in stoicism. If you want to be happy, you have to learn what you can control and what not. This book is a goog starter: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (English Edition) https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0040JHNQG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_EouqDbTJH6VM7
The problem is he can't read it.
Look at reviews for his book on Amazon.
Even the five star reviews include a paragraph such as...
> But there is something to be said for the lessons Peterson teaches. *They are complicated, sometimes a little indirect, and mired in allegory. * This makes them more valuable, if anything. Peterson doesn't use a magic formula, he uses principles of right action. This book provides general ideas and positions that can serve as a great tool to understanding how people think and why things go wrong.
>That being said, this book spoke to me. It is not an easy read. I had to re-read chapters slowly to fully condense my thoughts. I agree with the critical review that stated you have to be intellectually equipped to really get the most out of this. I had to utilize my background in philosophy and religion to go beyond the surface of what the author was trying to say. This is not a book you can listen to at 2x speed on Audible and hope to retain anything, imo. You need to digest this.
The book reviews are a who's who of /r/iamverysmart kids reflecting on how fucking smart they had to be to get it.
Oddly, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca all managed to get their ideas across without encapsulating their bullshit in unreadable nonsense.
Jordan Peterson's books are the ultimate 21st century Rorschach where you see what you want and if you take the time to see anything, you get to label yourself a very stable genius.
I recently read the book "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt. He's a social psychologist and tries to answer your question: how can a rational individual vote conservative, when that vote seems to go against one's self-interest? He answers the question by analyzing people's morality systems, and goes on to say that people don't vote based on rationality (active thinking), but based on morality (feelings). The book is very well written and meticulously built up -- I strongly recommend giving it a read! Amazon link here
Some make headlines for obvious reasons but come on, most?
I don't doubt that some homophobes are closeted, but most is an exaggeration.
Read "The Righteous Mind". Our perceptions of right and wrong frequently stem from our upbringing, and they rarely make sense.
Having read a few over the past few years, id agree with everyone who says Enchiridion and Meditations
I’d look at The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber
I can only suggest you read his book or his research papers at this point because you have the wrong impression about how the research was done and you are rejecting the results because of your assumptions.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0015141
I apologize I don't have free links for either.
If you’re going Kindle, to get Gregory Hays’ translation search for the modern library version which is tricky to get Amazon to show you.
edit: Here's the link now that I'm not on mobile. Because if you do the first search on Amazon for Gregory Hays - you get the print version and when you select the kindle button - you get a free kindle version which isn't the Gregory Hays translation (which is $11).
You might want to read Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion".https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion-ebook/dp/B0052FF7YM/
He explains that humans are fundamentally irrational creatures driven by intuition first then look for rationalization second.
People have an intuition about how the world should be. Religious people look for rationalization for that intuition in scripture and their faith tradition.
In conservative christianity, you're not going to convince anyone that being gay is NOT a sin unless and until they're willing to consider the possibility. They have to be willing to listen to the stories LGBTQ+ people tell about their experience. They have to meet and come to love LGBTQ+ people as individuals.
Their intuition about how the world should be has to change first.
Weird correction, are you trying to say that whoops, I'm secretly a theist because I try to follow Stoicism?
Some philosophers have retooled ancient Stoicism as a modern non-religious life philosophy, and it adapts really well to modern secular values and a material world: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic-ebook/dp/B0040JHNQG. The doctor of philosophy who wrote that book is very emphatic about the nonreligious nature of this notion of life philosophies. My point was that atheism is not a life philosophy, and if you simply reject religion -- which comes with life philosophies preinstalled -- you still need to find a life philosophy.
I found a couple books in the sidebar that are along the lines of what I'm looking for: A Guide to the Good Life and Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well.
I guess I mean newer as in... idk? Something with newer English?
Anyways, here's the Amazon Link... besides my Bible this book has a special place- it's changed my life.. very relevant.
I regret that I have but one upvote to give.
The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose. I believe Part I (of IV) is available in preview on Amazon, as well as on Good Reads.
Unless, of course, OP wants to ease his friends into libertarianism, rather than jumping into full blown voluntarism and morality. :D
I absolutely love The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. It is not really an intro to psychology, but it focuses on aspects of human thinking that relate very strongly to the politically divided world we currently find ourselves in. What is the foundation of our morality? How do we make decisions? How do we change our minds? Fascinating stuff.
I have found this to be accessible and valuable. The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085H5R3JJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fGkiFbBJ60KMS
Ward Farnsworth's Stoic user manual is my recommendation. Most of the material from the late stoics, be it Aurelius's journaling, Senecas letters, or Epictetus as assembled by Aran, was fragmented and in no particular order. Farnsworth does an amazing job organizing their writings into a framework and common ideas, and he expands beyond the big three to include stoic "cousins" such as Plutarch, Montaigne, Cicero and a few others.
You can read the originals afterwards, I just think this book does a great job of giving you a useable map of the subject. Even after having read much of the originals, I find myself reviewing this manual when I need a "booster" and as a map of where to reread in the primary sources
Ward Farnsworth's Stoic user manual is my recommendation. Most of the material from the late stoics, be it Aurelius's journaling, Senecas letters, or Epictetus as assembled by Aran, was fragmented and in no particular order. Farnsworth does an amazing job organizing their writings into a framework and common ideas, and he expands beyond the big three to include stoic "cousins" such as Plutarch, Montaigne, Cicero and a few others.
You can read the originals afterwards, I just think this book does a great job of giving you a useable map of the subject. Even after having read much of the originals, I find myself reviewing this manual when I need a "booster" and as a map of where to reread in the primary sources
I initially had a hard time understanding this book. It took me a while to realize it was because of the translation. I would recommend just getting a different translation, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC1JAI/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If I could recommend a book for anyone it's The Art of Stoic Joy.. Surface level philosophy but it helped me at least consider why and how I think about things. Honestly I should probably reread it.
I'm not going to lecture you with a bunch of platitudes. I've been there, for different reasons, but I've been there. I get it. I tipped over the apple cart of my whole life and made some huge changes. I'd say if you're going down that road anyway then shake shit up. Not sure your financial situation will improve but make some dramatic changes and see if anything is worth sticking around for. If you're resigned to ending it then you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
And dude if you ever want someone to just bitch and complain to, you can shoot me a message. Best to you bud.
I am really deep inside that philosophy for few years. I recommend you to try this book: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Stoicism-Resilience-Confidence-ebook/dp/B07MY2VFQD Great straightforward introduction. You could also dig into rabbit hole thorough the subreddit, they have FAQ for example.
> Meditations
£1.49 on Kindle at the moment.
As a light/easy read intro I like this book: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic-ebook/dp/B0040JHNQG From there you can go to the original sources recommended in the FAQ and comments.
This is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Lying-Sam-Harris-ebook/dp/B00G1SRB6Q
I don't like liars / lying either. We can always respond to people without lying even if it is to say "I'm not comfortable with this discussion" or "I'd rather not say"
u/NetImpressive59, You're going to get a lot of straight answers here for theology and philosophy, so I'm going to add an oddball answer that I think is still relevant; <em>12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos</em>, and also Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.