Author Description

It is possible to approach, but not to achieve, the goal of perfection. To the three traditional philosophical values of truth, goodness, and beauty it is appropriate to append the important values of wisdom, humanness, and grace. Among the resources available toward the perfection of behavior are ethics, morality, and mores. The first chapter of this document introduces a structured approach to the subject of ethics, morality, and mores. Chapter 2 defines principal terms and chapter 3 gives reasons for the importance of ethics, morality, and mores. The fourth chapter discusses the content of the three subjects and synthesizes their concepts. Chapter 5 attempts to get at the dynamics of ethics and morality, while the sixth chapter provides a brief historical summary. Separately, the seventh chapter records various efforts to make the approach to ethics more scientific. Chapter 8 underlines the enjoyment of life, suggesting that the "good life" emphasizes the individual, "quality of life" emphasizes the group, and "proper life" emphasizes the culture. In the ninth chapter is a summary of conclusions about personal behavior, findings, understanding, and enjoyment. The book represents an attempt to combine technical accuracy with clarity of presentation. (SG)