Moral value and human diversity /

This work is derived in great part from Audi's A. C. Reid Lectures, given in 2001 at Wake Forest University. Audi (Univ. of Notre Dame) compiles, in a succinct but comprehensive way, much of his ethical thinking distilled from several decades of scholarship. This book presents not only his basic metaethical position, but also deals, in summary fashion, with several current applied ethical problems, ranging from issues of technology, to the problems of self-indulgence, to specific issues in media ethics. Audi also treats of what he calls the ethics of love and of the moral status of indignation and repentance. His metaethical views are based on an ethics of value. He understands value, however, not in a utilitarian sense, as simply what is preferred in an instrumental purview, but as inclusive also of intrinsic goods that can inform reasons for action (a topic upon which he has written extensively in other works). In addition, he claims that values cannot be simply quantified and aggregated, but are to be understood organically and thus qualitatively. Also, Audi envisages a close relationship between secular reflection and religious-inspired thinking. This book does not include many of the more detailed and technical arguments found in his other works. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-/upper-level undergraduates and general readers. J. C. Swindal Duquesne University