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All Topic Reviews "Are You There Alone?"10 Good Questions about Life and DeathA Casebook of Ethical Challenges in NeuropsychologyA Companion to BioethicsA Companion to GenethicsA Companion to GenethicsA Delicate BalanceA Life for a LifeA Matter of SecurityA Philosophical DiseaseA Practical Guide to Clinical Ethics ConsultingA Question of TrustA Very Bad WizardAction and ResponsibilityAction Theory, Rationality and CompulsionActs of ConscienceAdvance Directives in Mental HealthAfter HarmAftermathAgainst BioethicsAgency and AnswerabilityAgency and ResponsibilityAging, Biotechnology, and the FutureAlbert Schweitzer's Reverence for LifeAltruismAmerican EugenicsAn Anthology of Psychiatric EthicsAnd a Time to DieAnimals Like UsAre Women Human?Assisted Suicide and the Right to DieAutonomy and the Challenges to LiberalismBabies by DesignBeauty JunkiesBefore ForgivingBeing YourselfBending Over BackwardsBending ScienceBernard WilliamsBetter Than WellBeyond ChoiceBeyond GeneticsBeyond HatredBeyond Moral JudgmentBeyond the DSM StoryBias in Psychiatric DiagnosisBioethicsBioethicsBioethics and the BrainBioethics Beyond the HeadlinesBioethics in a Liberal SocietyBioethics in the ClinicBiomedical EthicsBiomedical EthicsBiomedical EthicsBiomedical EthicsBiomedical Research and BeyondBiosBipolar ChildrenBluebirdBodies out of BoundsBodies, Commodities, and BiotechnologiesBody BazaarBoundaries and Boundary Violations in PsychoanalysisBrandedBreaking the SilenceBuffy the Vampire Slayer and PhilosophyCase Studies in Biomedical Research EthicsChildrenChoosing ChildrenClinical Dilemmas in PsychotherapyClinical EthicsCloningClose toYouCoercion as CureCognition of Value in Aristotle's EthicsComfortably NumbCommonsense RebellionCommunicative Action and Rational ChoiceCompetence, Condemnation, and CommitmentComprehending CareConducting Insanity EvaluationsConfidential RelationshipsConfidentiality and Mental HealthConflict of Interest in the ProfessionsConsuming KidsContemporary Debates In Applied EthicsContemporary Debates in Moral TheoryContemporary Debates in Social PhilosophyContentious IssuesContesting PsychiatryCrazy in AmericaCreatures Like Us?Crime, Punishment, and Mental IllnessCritical Perspectives in Public HealthCritical PsychiatryCrueltyCultural Assessment in Clinical PsychiatryCutting to the CoreCyborg CitizenDamaged IdentitiesDeaf Identities in the MakingDeath Is That Man Taking NamesDecoding the Ethics CodeDefining DifferenceDefining Right and Wrong in Brain ScienceDementiaDemons of the Modern WorldDescriptions and PrescriptionsDestructive Trends in Mental HealthDid My Neurons Make Me Do It?Difference and IdentityDigital HemlockDigital SoulDisability BioethicsDisability, Difference, DiscriminationDisorders of VolitionDivided Minds and Successive SelvesDoes Feminism Discriminate against Men?Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing CountriesDrugs and JusticeDworkin and His CriticsEarly WarningEmbodied RhetoricsEmerging Conceptual, Ethical and Policy Issues in BionanotechnologyEmotional ReasonEmpathy and Moral DevelopmentEmpirical Ethics in PsychiatryEncountering NatureEncountering the Sacred in PsychotherapyEngendering International HealthEnhancing EvolutionEnoughEros and the GoodErotic InnocenceErotic MoralityEssays on Free Will and Moral ResponsibilityEthical Choices in Contemporary MedicineEthical Conflicts in PsychologyEthical Dilemmas in PediatricsEthical Issues in Behavioral ResearchEthical Issues in Dementia CareEthical Issues in Forensic Mental Health ResearchEthical Issues in the New GeneticsEthical Reasoning for Mental Health ProfessionalsEthical TheoryEthical WillsEthically Challenged ProfessionsEthicsEthicsEthics and the A PrioriEthics and the Discovery of the UnconsciousEthics and the Metaphysics of MedicineEthics Case Book of the American Psychoanalytic AssociationEthics Done RightEthics ExpertiseEthics for EveryoneEthics for the New MillenniumEthics in Health CareEthics In Health Services ManagementEthics in Mental Health ResearchEthics in PsychologyEthics in Psychotherapy and CounselingEthics of PsychiatryEthics without OntologyEthics, Culture, and PsychiatryEvaluating the Science and Ethics of Research on HumansEvil GenesEvil in Modern ThoughtEvolution, Gender, and RapeEvolutionary Ethics and Contemporary BiologyEvolutionary Psychology and ViolenceExperiments in EthicsExploding the Gene MythFacing Human SufferingFact and ValueFaking ItFalse-Memory Creation in Children and AdultsFatal FreedomFellow-Feeling and the Moral LifeFeminism and Its DiscontentsFeminist TheoryFinal ExamFirst Do No HarmFirst, Do No HarmFlashpointFlesh WoundsForgivenessFoucault and the Government of DisabilityFoundations of Forensic Mental Health AssessmentFree WillFree Will And Moral ResponsibilityFreedom and ValueFreedom vs. InterventionFrom Morality to Mental HealthFrom Silence to VoiceFrontiers of JusticeGender in the MirrorGenetic PoliticsGenetic ProspectsGenetic ProspectsGenocide's AftermathGluttonyGood WorkGoodness & AdviceGreedGrowing Up GirlHandbook for Health Care Ethics CommitteesHandbook of BioethicsHandbook of PsychopathyHappinessHappiness Is OverratedHarmful ThoughtsHeal & ForgiveHealing PsychiatryHealth Care Ethics for PsychologistsHeterosyncraciesHistorical and Philosophical Perspectives on Biomedical EthicsHoly WarHookedHookedHow Can I Be Trusted?How to Make Opportunity EqualHuman GoodnessHuman Identity and BioethicsHuman TrialsHumanism, What's That?HumanityHumanizing MadnessI am Not Sick I Don't Need Help!I Was WrongIdentifying Hyperactive ChildrenIf That Ever Happens to MeImproving Nature?In Love With LifeIn Our Own ImageIn the FamilyIn the Land of the DeafIn the Name of IdentityIn the Wake of 9/11In Two MindsInformed Consent in Medical ResearchInnovation in Medical TechnologyIntelligence, Race, and GeneticsIntensive CareIs Human Nature Obsolete?Is Long-Term Therapy Unethical?Is There a Duty to Die?Is There an Ethicist in the House?Issues in Philosophical CounselingJudging Children As ChildrenJust a DogJustice for ChildrenJustice in RobesJustice, Luck, and KnowledgeKids of CharacterLack of CharacterLack of CharacterLaw and the BrainLearning About School ViolenceLeaving YouLectures on the History of Political PhilosophyLegal and Ethical Aspects of HealthcareLegal Aspects of Mental CapacityLet Them Eat ProzacLevelling the Playing FieldLiberal Education in a Knowledge SocietyLiberal EugenicsLife at the BottomLife, Sex, and IdeasListening to the WhispersLiving ProfessionalismLosing Matt ShepardLostLuckyMad in AmericaMad PrideMadhouseMaking Babies, Making FamiliesMaking Genes, Making WavesMasculinity Studies and Feminist TheoryMeaning and Moral OrderMedical Enhancement and PosthumanityMedical Research for HireMedicalized MasculinitiesMedically Assisted DeathMeditations for the HumanistMelancholia and MoralismMental Health Professionals, Minorities and the PoorMerit, Meaning, and Human BondageMetaethical SubjectivismMill's 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TherapyOur Daily MedsOur Posthuman FutureOut of Its MindOut of the ShadowsOverdosed AmericaOxford Textbook of Philosophy of PsychiatryPassionate DeliberationPatient Autonomy and the Ethics of ResponsibilityPC, M.D.Personal AutonomyPersonal Autonomy in SocietyPersonal Identity and EthicsPersonhood and Health CarePersons, Humanity, and the Definition of DeathPerspectives On Health And Human RightsPharmacracyPhilosophy and This Actual WorldPhilosophy of BiologyPhilosophy of Technology: The Technological ConditionPhysician-Assisted DyingPilgrim at Tinker CreekPlaying God?Playing God?Powerful MedicinesPractical Ethics for PsychologistsPractical RulesPragmatic BioethicsPragmatic BioethicsPraise and BlamePreferences and Well-BeingPrimates and PhilosophersProfits Before People?Property in the BodyProzac As a Way of LifeProzac on the CouchPsychiatric Aspects of Justification, Excuse and Mitigation in Anglo-American Criminal Law Psychiatric EthicsPsychiatry and EmpirePsychological Concepts and 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 Review - What Is Good and WhyThe Ethics of Well-Being by Richard Kraut Harvard University Press, 2007 Review by Albert D. Spalding, JD Nov 6th 2007 (Volume 11, Issue 45) Richard Kraut has been thinking about what is good for human persons for a long time. In an early essay entitled "Two Conceptions of Happiness," published in 1979 in The Philosophical Review, he contrasted the traditional, robust Aristotelian notion of eudaimonia with more current ideas about happiness and well-being. More recently, in Aristotle: Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2002), he considers, among other things, the extent to which sophia, i.e., philosophical contemplation, can be -- as Aristotle suggested -- the highest good because it allows for optimal political and theoretical reasoning. And in other books and articles published over the last two and a half decades, Kraut has wrestled with the relationship between human desire, on the one hand, and that which can be called the human good, on the other. What is Good and Why represents Kraut's most recent invitation to join him as he sorts through what he has learned during his season of sophia. In this work, he surveys and critiques Western philosophical efforts to articulate that which is ultimately good. He points to the weaknesses of various theories of the good, and gives particular attention to utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and other Enlightenment-based efforts to objectify virtues and treat them as separate goods for their own sake (or for the sake of society as a whole). He also questions the extent to which a subjective acceptance of the value of certain virtues can possibly yield a helpful or useful approach to ethics. Each of the four chapters of this work represents a thorough inquiry into different aspects of the question of the human good. In the first, Kraut reminds the reader of the Socrates' observation that the process of inquiry is at least as important as the subject matter itself. But the subject matter is also critical, and at the outset the inquirer must arrive at some basic conclusions about what it means to flourish as a human being. The reader is asked to consider whether the larger questions about the good of society, as raised by utilitarians, sufficiently encompasses all of that which is good for each individual. On the other hand, Kraut also lays bare the emptiness of the egoist's conclusions that that which seems (or feels) good to the individual is the highest ideal of the human good. Categorical imperatives, self-denial, self-love, and the unhelpful dichotomy of objective (agent-neutral) and subjective (agent-relative) views of virtue, are also viewed through the same questioning and critical lens. The second of four chapters of this work provides an intense focus on the very idea of the good. Kraut leads the reader through an investigation of the distinctions between "good," "good for," "good that," and "bad that." He suggests that the most helpful formulation of the good, is the idea of "good for" the human being. That is, he returns to the suggestion that human flourishing, and the avoidance of that which is bad for human flourishing, is the most helpful and workable approach to virtue theory. The third chapter offers a wide ranging exploration of various understandings of human flourishing. Kraut is careful to articulate a workable theoretical distinction between flourishing and un-flourishing, and then tests that distinction against the most common social, physical, psychological, economic, and spiritual indicators that signal the extent to which individuals are indeed flourishing. Social well-being, sexuality, intellectual development, engagement with art and culture, self-sacrifice, fame, wealth, and virtuous habits are all considered in the context of flourishing and un-flourishing. The fourth chapter, finally, addresses the general idea of human flourishing -- as well as virtue understood in terms of that which is "good for" -- at the societal level. The theoretical, logical, and practical insufficiency of an egoistic approach to that which is good for some, but harmful to others, is considered. Larger ideas of retribution for crimes, cosmic justice, and social justice are examined in light of a virtue theory approach to human flourishing. Specific social issues, such as slavery, torture, lying, and stealing are examined alongside Kraut's articulation human flourishing. What is Good and Why contains neither preface nor grand conclusion. Unlike other works written or edited by Richard Kraut, this work is not a compendium or encyclopedia of Aristotelian or Platonic ideas. It is, instead, an opportunity for the reader to pay careful attention to the author's observations about what he has come to appreciate as the best understanding of the relationship between virtue and human flourishing. The work, dedicated to the author's students, is not to be studied as a reference book. It is to be experienced. It is sophia.
© 2007 Albert D. Spalding
Albert D. Spalding, JD, is an associate professor at Wayne State University School of Business Administration. He teaches legal studies and ethics.
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