Book Reviews

Bailey has a word for putting the organization ahead of the individual:  holism (as opposed to individualism). What complicates this concept in government is that there are two wholes, the organization itself and the community it works for. One of the things that most determines a local government's ethical environment is which of the two wholes an official or employee is most supposed to put above his or her personal interest.

This is a follow-up to yesterday's blog post on ethics fines. This week, I've been reading Karen Pryor's bible on positive training, Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training (Bantam, 1999).

I'm reading the book to get ideas for training the puppy I will soon be getting. Positive training is a more...

This is the eighth and last in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008), which is itself inspired by the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. What’s wonderful about Kant’s approach to ethics is that it not only focuses on the role of...

This is the seventh in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). Neiman’s discussion of Daniel Ellsberg, the government official who let us know about the Pentagon Papers, shows the effect that access to confidential information has on...

In my first blog post relating to Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008), I referred to Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative.” It’s time to say a little more about it.

Essentially, this is it...

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman's book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008).

One problem Americans have with respect to government ethics is that one of our society’s principle ideologies is that everyone seeking his or her self-...