On Character: EssaysAmerican Enterprise Institute, 1995 - 234 ページ James Q. Wilson is the former president of the American Political Science Association and adviser to four presidents on issues related to crime, drug abuse, education, and other crises of American cutlure. In this book, he has produced a provocative series of essays related to character development and character policy that sets this important area in perspective. He brings his argument into clear focus by negating that public discussion of character is a conservative pasttime. Rather, the development of character is our collective responsibility. The public interest depends on private virtue. Wilson argues throughout these essays that to have good character one needs to have at least developed a sense of empathy and self control. In various chapters he writes about crime, families, communities and schooling with those two traits-empathy and self-control-as a basis. He presents the current crises of our community in clear perspective: how much can society tolerate? what is the role of the police? the family? what is a moral virtue? Wilson concludes with an argument that all humans have an inborn "moral sense". We are, after all, social beings, dependent on each other and we have an obligation to each other to develop that moral sense if we care about each other. This is a well written, reasoned book by a wise and experienced expert. |
目次
THINKING ABOUT CHARACTER | 1 |
PRIVATE VIRTUE | 11 |
INCIVILITY AND CRIME | 25 |
CHARACTER AND BIOLOGY | 41 |
CHARACTER AND FAMILIES | 55 |
THE 1960S | 91 |
Unchanging Social Life | 103 |
LIBERALISM VERSUS A LIBERAL EDUCATION | 113 |
AGAINST THE LEGALIZATION | 149 |
LEARNING MORE ABOUT CHARACTER HOW | 165 |
THE MORAL SENSE | 191 |
NOTES | 209 |
41 | 212 |
55 | 221 |
223 | |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | 231 |
他 の版 - すべて表示
多 く使 われている語句
action Adam Smith adult aggressive alcohol American Aristotle arrested babies become behavior believe Bibb Latané biological boys Cambridge capitalism causal caused character Chicago child cities cocaine cohort commit cost crime rates critical culture delinquency dopamine drug abuse economic effect efforts Ethics evidence example experience experimental explain feel Harvard heroin high-rate offenders human nature important impulsive increase individual infanticide infants James Q Jerome Kagan juvenile learned less liberal education living longitudinal Margo Wilson Mark Kleiman Martin Daly moral sense negative income tax neighborhoods North Long Beach officers parents perhaps persons police political prevent problem produce programs Psychology reason reduce result risk rules scholars social society Southern California street studies suggest sympathy teenagers theory treatment University Press users violent virtue Wealth of Nations York young