By R. M. Hare

From the cover: 'What I think about morals is up to me.' 'You can't think just what you like about moral questions.' Mr. Hare's aim is to resolve this antinomy by showing how, when thinking morally, a man can be both free and rational. Out of his earlier suggestions, in The Language of Morals, about the logical character and function of moral judgements, he de­velops an account of the main features of moral reasoning.. Topics touched upon include: 'ought' and 'can' and the problem of moral weakness; the place of imagination in moral thinking; ideals, moral and aesthetic; and the rational basis of toleration. The book ends with a more detailed practical illustration of moral reasoning, drawn from argu­ments about our attitudes toward racial conflicts.”

New York. Oxford University Pres. 1965. 230p.

By William Frankena

FROM THE PREFACE: This book is intended to introduce students and the general reader to the branch of philosophy called “ethics.” I shall try, among other things, to present some of the standard material of ethics that beginners and others should know. Idris will not, however, be a summary of what moral philosophers are agreed upon, as introductions to other subjects may be summaries of what the experts in those fields agree upon. Such a substantial body of agreement does not exist in philosophy. Nor will this be simply an introductory review of the various differing positions moral philosophers have taken, although many of these positions will be presented and discussed. My aim in this book is not just to introduce the problems and positions of moral philosophers, but also to do moral philosophy.

New Jersey. Prentice Hall. 1963. 113p.

By Ernest Becker

From the Preface: “The prospect of death. Dr, Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity de­signed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man. The noted anthro­pologist A. M. Hocart once argued that primitives were not bothered by the fear of death; that a sagacious sampling of anthropological evidence would show that death was, more often than not, ac­companied by rejoicing and festivities; that death seemed to be an occasion for celebration rather than fear—much like the traditional Irish wake. Hocart wanted to dispel the notion that (compared to modem man) primitives were childish and frightened by reality; anthropologists have now largely accomplished this rehabilitation of the primitive. But this argument leaves untouched the fact that the fear of death is indeed a universal in the human condition. To be sure, primitives often celebrate death—as Hocart and others have shown—because they believe that death is the ultimate promotion, the final ritual elevation to a Higher form of life, to the enjoyment of eternity in some form. Most modem Westerners have trouble believing this any more, which is what makes the fear of death so prominent a part of our psychological make-up.

In these pages I try to show that the fear of death is a universal that unites data from several disciplines of the human sciences, and makes wonderfully clear and intelligible human actions that we have buried under mountains of fact, and obscured with endless with endless back and forth arguments about “true” human motives.”

NY. The Free Press. 1973. 326p. CONTAINS MARK-UP

By Thomas Bullfinch.

From thePublishers’ Preface: No new edition of Bulfinch’s classic work can be con­sidered complete without some notice of the American scholar to whose wide erudition and painstaking care it stands as a perpetual monument. “The Age of Fable” has come to be ranked with older books like “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Gulliver’s Travels,” “The Arabian Nights,” “Robinson Crusoe,” and five or six other productions of world-wide renown as a work with which every one must claim some acquaintance before his education can be called really complete. Many readers of the present edition will probably recall coming in contact with the work as children, and, it may be added, will no doubt discover from a fresh perusal the source of numerous bits of knowledge that have remained stored in their minds since those early years. Yet to the majority of this great circle of readers and students the name Bulfinch in itself has no significance.

NY. Crown Publishers Avenel Books. 1978 1021p..

Translated by Joseph Smith Jr.

An account written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates taken from the Plates of Nephi. Wherefore It Is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanltes; written to the Lamanites who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile: written by way of commandment, and also by the Spirit of prophecy and of revelation. Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed; to come forth by the gift and power of God unto the inter­pretation thereof: sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by the way of Gentile; the interpretation thereof by the gift of God.

An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also; which Is a record of the people of Jared; who were scattered at the time the Lord con­founded the language of the people when they were building a tower to get to heaven; which is to shew unto the remnant of the House of Israel whut great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever; and also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations. And now if there are faults, they are the mistakes of men; wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the Judgment-seat of Christ.

Chicago. Press of Henry C. Often & Co.1905. 637p.