Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense

by Mortimer J. Adler

Book Overview

Is it a good time to be alive? Is ours a good society to be alive in? Is it possible to have a good life in our time? And finally, does a good life consist of having a good time? Are happiness and "a good life" interchangeable? These are the questions that Mortimer Adler addresses himself to.

The heart of the book lies in its conception of the good life for man, which provides the standard for measuring a century, a society, or a culture:...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823216705
• ISBN13: 9780823216703
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding! An intelligent, readable theory of ethics

Adler poses a theory of ethics for everyone. It is necessarily lacking in practical terms, as everyone is different, but it provides a theoretical foundation that is applicable to everyone. It provides a foundation for ethical theory--why ethics is important and what rights are needed to ensure we can succeed in our pursuit of the good life. Following the Aristotelian tradition, it lays out the importance of improving oneself and (in true common sense style) ranks improving oneself higher than pursuits for pure pleasure--which provide no lasting "good" after the pleasure has been experienced. To suggest, as another reviewer from MN has, that this means it is "bad" to go on a vacation, stems clearly from a failure to understand the book. (If you've read Ayn Rand and then read criticisms which say she is a hedonist who steps on others for her own pleasure, you have a good idea of the error made here.) And indeed, it takes nothing more than common sense to know that if someone goes to a bar everyday, his life won't--in the end--be as "good" as someone who devotes the time to improving himself. But this text requires the ability to apply its principles to each individual. It is as sound an ethical theory as anyone can possibly formulate, but again, for Joe Sixpack, the devil is in the details.