Prescription for Moral Order

The Moral Rules A New Rational Foundation for Morality By Bernard Gert Harper, 239 pp., $6.95 Bernard Gert, Dartmouth College professor of philosophy, here gives us—at last—the answer to the relativism and confusion of liberal ethics, which cannot tell you what is right and what is wrong. While “situational ethics” seems to mean, do what you feel like that particular moment, Gert’s moral rules demand that you do what is always right and refrain from doing what is always wrong, no matter how you feel. After the liberals’ capriciousness and the know-nothingism of the hedonists, academic and otherwise, Gert’s cool logic and heated arguments come as a relief.

The fundamental rules of morality, he argues, are these: 1) don’t kill; 2) don’t cause pain; 3) don’t disable; 4) don’t deprive of freedom of opportunity; 5) don’t deprive of pleasure; 6) don’t deceive; 7) keep your promise; 8) don’t cheat; 9) obey the law; 10) do your duty.

JN

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Jacob Neusner

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The Moral Rules A New Rational Foundation for Morality By Bernard Gert Harper, 239 pp., $6.95 Bernard Gert, Dartmouth College professor of philosophy, here gives us—at last—the answer to the relativism and confusion of liberal ethics, which cannot tell you what is right and what is wrong. While “situational ethics” seems to mean, do what you feel like that particular moment, Gert’s moral rules demand that you do what is always right and refrain from doing what is always wrong, no matter how you feel. After the liberals’ capriciousness and the know-nothingism of the hedonists, academic and otherwise, Gert’s cool logic and heated arguments come as a relief.

The fundamental rules of morality, he argues, are these: 1) don’t kill; 2) don’t cause pain; 3) don’t disable; 4) don’t deprive of freedom of opportunity; 5) don’t deprive of pleasure; 6) don’t deceive; 7) keep your promise; 8) don’t cheat; 9) obey the law; 10) do your duty.