How Good People Make Tough Choices Rev Ed

Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living

Rushworth M. Kidder

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780061743993
• eBook ISBN:
  9780061968723
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Business Ethics

This insightful and brilliant analysis of ethics teaches readers valuable skills in evaluating tough choices and arriving at sound conclusions.

“A thought-provoking guide to enlightened and progressive personal behavior.”
—Jimmy Carter

An essential guide to ethical action updated for our challenging times, How Good People Make Tough Choices by Rushworth M. Kidder offers practical tools for ethical decision-making in the difficult moral dilemmas we face in our everyday lives. The founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics, Dr. Kidder provides guidelines for making the important decisions in situations that may not be that clear cut—from the most private and personal ethics to the most public and global. Former U.S. senator and NBA legend Bill Bradley calls How Good People Make Tough Choices “a valuable guide to more informed and self-conscious moral judgments.”

This foundational book on personal ethics provides a clear, practical framework for navigating the toughest choices where both sides can seem right:

• Right-Versus-Right Choices: Learn to distinguish between clear moral temptations and complex ethical dilemmas, where cherished values are in conflict.
• Four Dilemma Paradigms: Identify the recurring patterns of conflict—Truth vs. Loyalty, Individual vs. Community, Short-Term vs. Long-Term, and Justice vs. Mercy—that are at the heart of our toughest problems.
• Ethical Decision-Making Models: Apply three resolution principles drawn from moral philosophy to think through dilemmas with clarity and confidence.
• Real-World Case Studies: Explore dozens of real-life examples from professional and personal life that bring ethical challenges out of the abstract and into sharp focus.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface (2009)
• Preface (1995)
• Chapter 1 · Overview: The Ethics of Right Versus Right
• Chapter 2 · Right Versus Wrong: Why Ethics Matters
• Chapter 3 · Ethical Fitness
• Chapter 4 · Core Values
• Chapter 5 · Right Versus Right: The Nature of Dilemma Paradigms
• Chapter 6 · Three More Dilemma Paradigms
• Chapter 7 · Resolution Principles
• Chapter 8 · “There’s Only ‘Ethics’ . . .”
• Chapter 9 · Epilogue (1995): Ethics in the Twenty-first Century
• Chapter 10 · Epilogue (2009): Ethics in a Time of Economic Crisis
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Also by Rushworth M. Kidder
• Copyright
• About the Publisher