Rate Points :4.0
Binding :Paperback
Label :Ignatius Press
Manufacturer :Ignatius Press
ProductGroup :Book
Studio :Ignatius Press
Publisher :Ignatius Press
UPC :008987073154
EAN :9780898707311
Price :$14.95USD
Lowest Price :$8.72USD
Customer ReviewsInterviews with an intellectual bully
Rating Point :1 Helpful Point :7
As a book in philosophy, this work fails. Kreeft presents unoriginal arguments in a largely incoherent fashion and consistently refuses to examine their flaws. To compound these errors, he relies heavily on equivocation, straw men, and guilt by association, among other fallacies. In fact, he doesnt even make the trivial effort it would require to ensure a fair representation of his opponents view: the voice of relativism is, from the start, the villain of the book. Relativists (and philosophers in general who have respect for their craft) should be offended by this books philosophical content.
However, relativists should also be worried. While this book utterly fails as a philosophical treatise, it succeeds admirably as propaganda. Untrained readers will surely accept his constant claims that the "debates" represent unbiased philosophy. From there, theyll readily accept that relativism will be the downfall of mankind. If anybody doubts its effectiveness, simply read through the other reviews. For this reason, I encourage relativists to take this book seriously and review its arguments online, for free (and with considerably less irritating one-sided banter) at ...
To be sure, if youre interested in this debate, youll hear these arguments again and again. In that way alone does Kreeft perform a public service by printing this drivel: there is no better way for a budding relativist to develop a strong foundation for his belief than to read these arguments and tear them apart.
Mission(ary) Not Accomplished
Rating Point :1 Helpful Point :20
What Kreeft puts in the mouth of his opponent as "proofs" of the truth of relativism are so weak and at times sophomoric that Kreefts supposed refutation of them is irrelevant to the core of the relativist challenge, which is that no one can provide objective support for a claim to have an absolute foundation for moral values. Kreeft doesnt even acknowledge this central issue.
Heres an example of how Kreeft, who claims his book offers "respectable logical arguments" from a "clear and very intelligent" viewpoint, in fact abuses language and logic. To defend the idea that changing situations "change how you should apply the rules, but they dont change the rules" he gives the example of lying to a Nazi searching for hidden Jews: "The Nazis had no right to know that truth" so it wasnt wrong to "deceive" them. "Lying is always wrong, and that wasnt wrong, so that wasnt a lie." To safeguard the absoluteness of the rule that says "Lying is always wrong," Kreeft redefines "lying" from "the speaking of a falsehood" to "the speaking of a falsehood when its not permissible to do so," and so the rule becomes "The speaking of a falsehood when it is not permissible to do so is wrong." Besides the irony in a professed absolutist ignoring the common meaning of a word to suit his purpose-and in particular redefining "lie" in defense of a belief in absolute truth-this raises the problem of how were to know, by objective standards, when "speaking a falsehood" is permissible and therefore not lying, otherwise this rule is wholly vacuous. If his semantic juggling is to be of any use, Kreeft needs to prove his claim to have such standards, a claim implicit throughout the book, and he fails to.
Kreefts argument in favor of absolutism rests primarily on what he calls the data of moral experience, which comes down to the claim that "Conscience immediately detects real right and wrong, just as your senses immediately detect real colors and shapes ... This shows that absolutism is scientific." Actually, what this shows is that Kreeft believes his conscience is absolutely infallible because he believes God made it so, and although he doesnt tell us how he knows this is true, presumably he believes it is because the tradition he believes in told him it is, and he believes that tradition is true because his infallible conscience tells him so. And round and round, with nothing on which to rest this self-reinforcing circle of certainty. A fuller discussion can be found elsewhere (pkoplin.blogspot.com).
Kreeft also throws in quite a bit of invective against people and principles he disagrees with, but he never addresses the following question: What are your objective, universal, and timeless reasons for claiming that your foundation for absolute values is true? The assertion that God came down to Abraham with the "real religion" (with the implication that Kreeft and his fellow Catholics have an absolute understanding of exactly what moral rules follow from this) isnt good enough, and in fact, taken in conjunction with the rest of Kreefts performance, raises the question of just what qualifications are required to teach philosophy at Boston College.
This Book Was The Genesis of My True Realization of G-d
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :2
Words cant describe how much this book has impacted my life. I knew the recent election of Barack Obama had put such a drain on my life with all the reading I did on him and finding out how much a downward spiral the US, as well as the world, was in. Im not a tinfoil hat type of guy there are signs everywhere. Just open your eyes and minds and you will see them.
As a 4th year college fraternity guy, I was in the stronghold of moral deviance and liberalism a member of a typical illicit drug using, tripping-over-condoms-every-few-steps, lying, cheating, stealing from your own brothers rooms type of frat and also a destructively liberal institution where kids are brainwashed day in day out with what the professor wants- university. Everyone on campus is a Democrat, I was raised Democrat, and Jewish, it just made sense to follow the crowd, right? I never did that though. I always questioned things of argumentum ad populi, and seeked the truth in what was actually going on. I always set my own path, and when I would try to tell people the light I have found in the fallacy of moral relativism and how wrong it is, people would just shrug their shoulders or blow me off.
Moral relativism is the source of all our societal problems today, hand in hand with atheism and political corectness.
I was the posterchild of moral deviance at one point of my college career. But I found the light, and I discovered what was the cause of all this wrong. And Im changing my ways, going to the Church, and doing incredibly better now.
Read this book, and I pray and hope you receive the same meaning and feeling I did from this book (there are a few other good books on moral relativism too, that could accomplish the same thing). The dialogue of this book and humorous value helped me get through some of the history and tedious parts, but I loved every bit.
Read it today, this is a 5 star book for potential life changes that can occur.
Humorous, Intelligent and Fascinating
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :4
Kreeft, an academic with a reputation for orthodoxy and narrow Catholic conservatism, does a wonderful job in presenting a topic of great timely interest in a relatively (no pun intended) light-hearted way. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed by this work and would recommend it to anyone who finds his or herself on either side of the figurative fence created by todays culture and its precarious - and sometimes adversarial - engagement of religious absolutism.
Religious absolutism has gained, as Kreeft notes through the interviews, a rather polemical stigma in recent history. Closely tied to fundamental trends in the minds of many, absolutism is neither fundamental (in a pejorative sense) nor simplistic (in the idiotic sense). Kreeft does a fine job articulating that and helps to bring a refulgent tone to a formidable position.
A page-turning synopsis of a timely philosophical topic.
A series of enlightening interviews
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :5
Kreeft structures his book around a series of interviews with a black moral relativist and activist, Libby, and a Muslim absolutionist and professor, Isa. The logic is solid and the interviews are entertaining. A must-read for anyone with philosophical or religious interests.
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