A New Stoicism

This is a rare, great book, one of the few works in ethics in who knows how long that actually takes ethics in the right direction. Becker is committed to a fully naturalistic account of ethics that takes full advantage of all scientific info he can pull together (in psychology, biology, etc.) -- this is how he construes the stoic maxim to 'follow nature', and I could not agree with him more. Though he does go off track in a few places, and though his arguments can be a little weak sometimes (ie, for the importance of reciprocity and benevolence), those criticisms can be made of just about anything. Overall, an exciting, fascinating read that had me, for the first time since I can remember, actually believing that ethics was being pointed in the right direction and being placed, finally, on a solid footing. This work deserves a great deal more praise and fame than it has received.