Of Mottos and Morals: Simple Words for Complex Virtues [Hardcover]

Whether in slogans, catchphrases, adages or proverbs, we encounter mottos every day, but we rarely take time to reflect on them. In Of Mottos and Morals: Simple Words for Complex Virtues, Martin explores the possibility that mottos themselves are worthy of serious thought, examining how they contribute to moral guidance and help us grapple with complexity.Mike W. Martin is professor of philosophy at Chapman University.

Martin has done something exciting and rare, providing readers with a real treat: he has blended historically-rooted philosophy with our every-day experience in a way that makes them both richer. The mottos and phrases addressed help us to truly connect with typically...abstract philosophy. And just as exciting, the profound insights which academic philosophy offersand which often go unappreciatedgreatly enhance our lives. Of Mottos and Morals walks this balance extremely well, giving us a wonderful contribution to philosophy while also providing the reader something they can immediately apply. All the while, the writing is both accessible and true to the philosophers and theories it explores. Know thyself, indeed. Socrates would be most proud. Jack Bowen, Menlo School, author of If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers

In his essay How Not to Solve Ethical Problems, Harvard philosopher Hilary Putnam quipped, When a philosopher 'solves' an ethical problem for one, one feels as if he had asked for a subway token and had been given a passenger ticket valid for the first interplanetary passenger-carrying spaceship instead. Martin (Chapman Univ.) has spent a career overcoming this stereotype. Known for his work in professional ethics, he has produced a number of thoughtful works in ethics that are aimed at students and nonacademics, such as Happiness and the Good Life (CH, Aug'12, 49-6812). In the present book, the author makes the case that mottos--such as Look before you leap or its contrary, He who hesitatesl#