World Ethics

What is virtue? What is moderation? What is justice? What is courage? What is good? What is piety? Socrates thought that understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help him become a more excellent human being.

Dr. Rob Douk has made it his life mission to make a difference - and to help others do the same. As a therapist turned socialpreneur, Douk has paved the way for companies with a strong social purpose to grow their business as they improve the world. The Fearless Socialpreneur outlines a series of five foundations and five principles that generate success for "socialpreneurs", those who launch innovative enterprises that achieve financial returns and social benefits. It is Douk's belief that good people working together can overcome any challenge to make a profound difference.

What if we lived in a world that revolved around quality of life, rather than economic winners and losers? In Person to Person, Joeri Torfs and Pim Ampe describe this world and chart a clear path toward it. Grounded in research and rooted in reality, the world they describe is neither a utopia nor a fantasy. They present an environment that incentivizes goodness, fairness, sustainability, and freedom. It begins with the individual and moves toward our collaborative relationships.

Marcus Aurelius, one of the great rulers of the Roman Empire, sets forth a series of self-reflective essays intended as a guide for his own self-improvement. Written during the turning points of his life and divided into twelve books, Meditations ponders life’s greatest questions in the author’s search for a meaningful existence. Remarkably, they are no different from the questions we ask ourselves today - from finding happiness to understanding our place in the cosmos. Centuries after Aurelius’s death, Meditations remains a profound source of inspiration.

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor, The Prince is a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince, a king, a president.

Stem-cell research. Cloning. Genetic engineering. Today, discoveries in biotechnology are occurring so rapidly that we can barely begin to address one ethical debate before another looms overhead. This brave new world we've entered is a daunting one as well, with disturbing implications for the sanctity of life and for human nature itself. How should we respond as Christians?

In this groundbreaking work, Kwame Anthony Appiah, hailed as "one of the most relevant philosophers today" (New York Times Book Review), changes the way we understand human behavior and the way social reform is brought about. In brilliantly arguing that new democratic movements over the last century have not been driven by legislation from above, Appiah explores the end of the duel in aristocratic England, the tumultuous struggles over foot binding in 19th-century China, the uprising of ordinary people against Atlantic slavery, and much more.

The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices - the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women.

Everyone has secrets, and everyone is living a double life to some degree. The world is held up by lies; if everyone's secrets were to all be revealed tomorrow morning, civilization might collapse. To ascend the social hierarchies and achieve great power, you need to optimize and strategize rather than slogging and "working hard" every day of your life. This is counterproductive since it does not guarantee any beneficial results in the end. Nobody can succeed by following rules in the first place.

From social theorist and psychotherapist Rabbi Michael Lerner comes a strategy for a new socialism built on love, kindness, and compassion for one another. Revolutionary Love proposes a method to replace what Lerner terms the "capitalist globalization of selfishness" with a globalization of generosity, prophetic empathy, and environmental sanity.

"The Dopamine Detox: Reset Your Brain in a Digital World" explores how modern life has hijacked our brain's reward system, creating patterns of addiction through everyday activities we consider normal. The book argues that our greatest enemy isn't traditional hedonism, but rather the constant, low-level pursuit of dopamine hits through social media, smartphones, processed foods, and endless digital entertainment.

In Resurrecting Justice, theologian Douglas Harink invites listeners to rediscover Romans as a treatise on justice. He traces Paul's thinking on this theme through a sequential reading of the book, finding in each passage facets of the gospel's primary claim - that God accomplishes justice in the death and resurrection of Jesus Messiah. By rendering forms of the Greek word dikaiosyne as "just" or "justice", Harink emphasizes the inseparability of personal, social, and political uprightness that was clear to Paul but is obscured in modern translations.

First there were the "Profiteers", investors who sought to make money regardless of the cost to society. Then came the "Do-Gooders", investors who avoided "bad" companies and supported "good" ones, based on philosophy over financials. Now this book introduces a brand new breed of investor: The HIP Investor.

God Breathed will help you understand and courageously doubt the popular dogma that God cannot speak, that the Bible is not only inaccurate but impossible. It will help you break out of the soul-suffocating confines of self-made truth. Within the pages of God's book is the true you, just waiting for you to arrive. God Breathed will help you get there.

When we can live our lives first guided by what we believe and by who in our essence we are, it is much easier to know how to live and what to do. Riveted explores the importance of understanding your unique core values, and through 44 stories about real-life individuals who have embodied timeless values in exceptional ways, it helps you deepen your understanding of these essential values. In this way, you can solidify your own core values and lead a riveted life - one that is held together by purpose, passion, and principle.

At first, the job as clinical director at Alcor Life Extension Foundation was an exciting change for veteran paramedic Larry Johnson: a well-funded research facility pushing the limits of modern biotech. But as he gained the trust of his eccentric coworkers and was promoted to acting COO, Larry was thrust into a nightmare world of scandalous controversy, gruesome practices, and deadly secrets.

In this book, we explore the belief in naturalism as an atheistic worldview grounded in our best understanding of the world and reality. We delve into the concept of moral naturalism, which allows us to evaluate ethical principles and behaviors based on the natural world and the well-being of sentient beings.

Following a deadly car crash, small-town lawyer Lance Cooper risked everything to battle one of the most powerful auto corporations in the world to get justice for a young woman. A fast-paced, journalistic account of tragedy turned to triumph, despair to hope, Cobalt Cover-Up is an inspirational, thoroughly compelling, and victorious listen.

Paul A. Pagnato has tapped into an incredible brain trust of world-renowned experts from a diverse set of challenging disciplines, each having encountered the intersection of exponential growth and transparency. Their honest assessment for turning challenges into opportunities is inspirational. Their work is changing the world, and now through the prism of transparency, the wave of the future is upon us.

The question of how to lead successfully and responsibly is crucially important in our uncertain, high-pressure, turbulent world. In this audiobook, Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. Leaders today are surrounded by what Badaracco calls “the new invisible hand” - powerful, pervasive markets that touch and shape almost everything. As a result, understanding the inevitability and importance of struggle is critical.