Ethical Wisdom, Mark Matousek
Ethical Wisdom, Mark Matousek
List: $27.98 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Ethical Wisdom
What Makes Us Good

Author: Mark Matousek

Narrator: Mark Matousek

Unabridged: 6 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 05/20/2011


Synopsis

Since the days of the first primitive tribes, we have tried to determine why one man is good and another evil. Mark Matousek arrives at the answer in Ethical Wisdom.
Contrary to what we've been taught in our reason-obsessed culture, emotions are the bedrock of ethical life; without them, human beings cannot be empathic, moral, or good.
But how do we make the judgment call between self-interest and caring for others? What does being good really mean? Which parts of morality are biological, which ethical? When should instinct be trusted and when does it lead us into trouble? How can we know ourselves to be good amidst the hypocrisy, fears, and sabotaging appetites that pervade our two-sided natures?
Drawing on the latest scientific research and interviews with social scientists, spiritual leaders, ex-cons, altruists, and philosophers, Matousek examines morality from a scientific, sociological, and anthropological standpoint. Each chapter features a series of questions, readings, interviews, parables, and anecdotes that zoom in on a particular niche of moral inquiry, making this audio book both utilitarian and fun.
Ethical Wisdom is an insightful and important book for listeners crisscrossing their own murky moral terrain.

About Mark Matousek

Mark Matousek is the author of two acclaimed memoirs, the international bestseller Sex Death Enlightenment and The Boy He Left Behind, as well as When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living; Ethical Wisdom: The Search for a Moral Life; and Writing to Awaken. Formerly senior editor at Interview magazine, he worked with Sogyal Rinpoche on The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and with Ram Dass on his book Still Here. Matousek is a featured blogger for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today, and has contributed to numerous anthologies and publications, including the New Yorker, O: The Oprah Magazine (as contributing editor), Harper's Bazaar, Yoga Journal, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and the Saturday Evening Post. A popular speaker and writing teacher, Matousek offers courses in creativity and spiritual growth around the world and is the creative director of V-Men (with Eve Ensler), an organization devoted to ending violence against women and girls. He lives in East Hampton, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by L.J. on December 22, 2010

Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good Mark Matousek, Doubleday, $25.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-52789-7 Matousek (Sex Death Enlightenment) makes a case for why human beings are inherently ethical creatures in a provocative book that suffers from uneven execution. Wired from birth with "mirror neurons" tha......more

Goodreads review by John on November 24, 2024

This is one of those books that does not quite find what it is searching for - there is no real path nor conclusion - just chapters on different parts where "ethical wisdom" may be discussed. The author promises not to be religious or favor religion, pointing out to his use of "sin", but he fails. T......more

Goodreads review by Crystal on October 03, 2017

It gives bit by bit idea that wr rarely find in other self development books. I personally like how he put surpression can bring to greater happiness & contentment despite high quality lives we live in.......more

Goodreads review by Danu on October 21, 2014

Asks good questions and covers important ground, but relies too heavily on dubious evidence from evolutionary psychology and fMRIs. More problematically, the book offers no answer to the question it poses itself - 'what makes us good?' - because it offers no theory of what 'good' is. On the one hand......more

Goodreads review by Alexis on April 30, 2015

Ethical Wisdom was an excellent book about compassion (not judgment) toward your neighbor and yourself. The author explored many topics pertaining to Ethical Wisdom. It seems that he explored everything from birth to psychiatric problems. EW rings true that you can only change the world by taking a......more