# The Thinker's Guide to Ethical Reasoning ![rw-book-cover](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71d8gQm1KQL._SY160.jpg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Richard Paul, Linda Elder]] - Full Title: The Thinker's Guide to Ethical Reasoning - Category: #books ## Highlights - analyze and evaluate situations from opposing ethical perspectives. At the root of virtually every unethical act lies some form and degree of self-delusion. And at the root of every self-delusion lies some flaw in thinking. ([Location 215](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=215)) - Furthermore, a society must be deemed unethical if it accepts among its religious practices any form of slavery, torture, sexism, racism, persecution, murder, assault, fraud, deceit, or intimidation. ([Location 299](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=299)) - Yet, all social practices violating human rights are rejected, and have been rejected, by ethically sensitive, reasonable persons no matter what social conventions support those practices. ([Location 309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=309)) - Schools traditionally function as apologists for conventional thought; those who teach often inadvertently foster confusion between convention and ethics because they themselves have internalized the conventions of society. Education, properly so called, should foster the intellectual skills that enable students to distinguish between cultural mores and ethical precepts, between social commandments and ethical truths. In each case, when social beliefs and taboos conflict with ethical principles, ethical principles should prevail. ([Location 337](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=337)) - We must learn how to think with alternative ideas, and within alternative “world views.” As general semanticists often say: “The word is not the thing! The word is not the thing!” If we are trapped in one set of concepts (ideas, words) then our thinking is trapped. Word and thing become one and the same in our minds. We are unable then to act as free and ethical persons. ([Location 479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=479)) - Doing ethical good involves: promoting kindness, compassion, understanding, open-mindedness, forbearance, tolerance, forgiveness, mercy, benevolence, thoughtfulness, considerateness, civility, respect, generosity, charity, empathy, justice, impartiality, evenhandedness, integrity, and fair-play. Doing harm involves: thoughtlessness, egotism, egocentricity, cruelty, injustice, greed, domination, selfishness, disrespect, prejudice, narrow-mindedness, inconsiderateness, hypocrisy, unkindness, insensitivity, meanness, brutality, malice, hatred, spite, vindictiveness, mercilessness, avarice, bigotry, discrimination, chauvinism, small-mindedness, duplicity, insincerity, callousness, heartlessness, viciousness, ruthlessness, intolerance, unfairness, favoritism, pettiness, trivial-mindedness, dishonesty, cunning, deception, fraudulence, deceit, fanaticism, disingenuousness, violence, sadism, cheating, and lying. ([Location 492](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=492)) - Concepts Depicting Ethical Behavior or Motivation ([Location 505](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=505)) - Concepts Depicting Unethical Behavior or Motivation ([Location 506](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=506)) - it is ethically wrong to cheat, deceive, exploit, abuse, harm, or steal from others, that we have an ethical responsibility to respect the rights of others, including their freedom and well-being, to help those most in need of help, to seek the common good and not merely our own self-interest and egocentric pleasures, and to strive to make the world more just and humane. ([Location 524](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=524)) - Multiple Points of View with Respect to a Given Set of Facts ([Location 658](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=658)) - Those foundations are not difficult to understand. The difficulty lies in the interplay of egocentric individuals with sociocentric groups. This interplay typically results in individuals internalizing group beliefs. Social ideology is then perceived as the truth. Individuals are unable to think beyond the beliefs of their society and culture. Ethical concepts are hopelessly confused with theological, ideological, and legal ones. This confusion often keeps people from doing what is ethically right. ([Location 825](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07SJWQ46X&location=825))