Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions

Why do I give so many 5 star ratings. Well the first reason is I love reading. Secondly I want to complete a Doctorate in Philosophy. This essentially means I read an enormous volume of books, however, I do not have the time or inclination to read something which will not allow me to achieve my goal.Peter Kreeft is a definitely a must read author. In my humble opinion he is quickly marching on to become the C.S. Lewis of the 21st century. Kreeft understates his case with precision writing that is to say, he is very easy to absorb then once finished the work of the author sets to work on the individual's mind in a manner just like Lewis. I realise this is a big call, however, this is the truth as I see it. Peter Kreeft is one individual who I would love to share a meal with however, I suspect dinner would conclude with brunch the following day. This is certainly not a sexual reference but one that simply says the conversation would go on and on. As I live over 20,000 km's away this is unlikely to happen.Kreeft's writings, regardless of the book, underscores two essential principles. His work poses the question, then he provides two possible answers of equal regard but with quite different meanings. Kreeft generally does not provide all the answers, rather, he leads the reader to a point whereby they in turn make up their own mind. Therefore the reader becomes an active participant in the process.Lastly, I do not have the time to spend reading worthless rubbish. The book is either truly exceptional therefore I carry on reading or the book does not value add my thinking and therefore ends up back on the shelf very quickly.Read Peter Kreeft!

This is another of Peter Kreeft's typically illuminative books, on the largely-neglected topic of moral reasoning.Kreeft spends the first part of the book simply establishing the basic truths that once upon a time were obvious, but not in the present day - that moral laws exist and are knowable by human reason; that they are "built into" the universe, and thus true whether we know them or not; that moral relativism is self-refuting; and that morality ultimately derives from God (in Dostoevsky's words, "If there is no God, then everything is permissible").His discussion of the Greatest Good is also very sharp, especially in its discussion of ends and means.Part Four, in which he engages topics of Sex, Abortion, and Truth in greater detail, is really the meat of the book, and where Kreeft most directly engages modern culture. His discussion of sex in terms of sacredness is wonderfully clear - understanding sex as sacred simultaneously avoids both errors of hedonism on the one hand, and repression on the other. "Christian morality is based on human nature, on the kind of thing we are, and the kind of thing sex is. It is not the changeable rules of a game we designed, but the unchangeable rules of the operating manual written by the Designer of our human nature."Kreeft's bit on our society's confusion between sex and money is utterly incisive - we use sex as a mere means of exchange (of pleasure), but we erect all manner of legal protections around money, treating it as virtually sacred, even expecting it to reproduce and grow. Priceless.Kreeft's aim here is not ethereal or theoretical - this is not pie-in-the-sky, "out there" moral philosophy. He means to give real people real tools for living real lives in the real world, and in this, he succeeds admirably

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not finish this book. I'm not writing the review to bash the author or his beliefs, though I will point out some that I personally find objectionable. I am writing so that others like me who might *not* have interpreted the title and description as fundamentalist theology won't make the same mistake I did. The title and description reveal nothing that gave me a good insight to the contents and I was swayed by the statement that the material would appeal to believers and skeptics alike. I suppose I should have read more reviews.This is not philosophy. It's proselytizing. I was hoping for more of the "practical wisdom" aspect of moral choices which, as far as I'm concerned, can exist outside Christianity. This isn't it. It's basically a re-hash of "God's will" for making decisions. Which is all well and good for those who are guided strictly by those beliefs (and I have nothing against people making those choices for themselves - but a great deal against them attempting to make those choices for others). The moral relativism that Kreeft bemoans is only relativist if your world view is that of strictly fundamentalist Christianity. The idea that this is the only guideline for morality is far outside the realm of philosophy and aligned strongly with traditional theology - and a rather hardline theology at that. Condoning Operation Rescue as moral (yes, let's condone an organization that terrorizes people engaging in very private choices that are legal and harasses those who provide those services, resulting in the murder of at least one provider, and whose senior policy provider was convicted of conspiring to blow up a clinic) and condemning people for their sexual orientation is not practical wisdom about making choices in one's own life so much as providing a spiritual ruler to measure others against and find them lacking.I read a lot of theology, from all religions. I truly believe that there's wisdom to be found everywhere. Even this book had passages and explanations that made sense, both in and out of the context of religion. But, two chapters in it became obvious that the overwhelming message of this book is the kind of theology that made me leave the church in the first place: the kind of morality that says, I am right and anyone who thinks differently is wrong.So, if what you're looking for is a well-written (and it is well-written) strict guide to living according to fundamentalist Christian principles, you could do much worse than this book. But if, like me, you were looking for something that delved more into the philosophical and ethical questions that surround making moral decisions for oneself, you might be disappointed, as I was.

The book touches upon issues that many of us would rather avoid. If you tend to turn to tears easily, avoid reading the book in public places. Those who find soul searching is an essential remedy to being honest and respectable human being - this book is for you.

Great book. Probably one of Kreeft's bests (and that is saying a lot. Each page is not only full of humor and wisdom, but extremely insightful and worldview-defining. Will be shamelessly stealing lots of quotes from this book.