Book Description
This is the leading introduction to professional values and ethics in social work. Frederic G. Reamer provides social workers with a succinct and comprehensive overview of the most critical issues relating to professional values and ethics, including the nature of social work values, ethical dilemmas, and professional misconduct. Conceptually rich and attuned to the complexities of ethical decision making, Social Work Values and Ethics is unique in striking the right balance between history, theory, and practical application.
For the third edition, Reamer has updated the content and strengthened the relevance of the case material. Also new to the third edition:
o Discussion of the moral dialogue between practitioner and client
o Coverage of virtue ethics
o Practical discussion of concepts underlying social work ethics
o Expanded application of the National Association of Social Workers Code of
Ethics to ethical dilemmas in the profession
o A look at the historical evolution of ethical standards in social work
o New vignettes, illustrating difficult ethical decisions
o More guidance on informed consent and termination of services
o Discussion questions at the end of each chapter
o A section on how to conduct a social work ethics audit
Customer Reviews:
Social Work Values and Ethics.......2007-10-12
Excellent overview of current thinking on the profession's ethics; will be useful in decision's about many thorny areas.
A valuable educational manual for students and professionals in the complex and changing field.......2006-08-09
Now in an updated third edition, Social Work Values And Ethics by Frederic G. Reamer (Professor of Social Work, Rhode Island College) is an articulate and thoughtful introduction to core ethical principles and common dilemmas in the field of social work. Chapters cover common ethical issues in direct practice and indirect practice, as well as problems in ethical risk management and ethical misconduct. Chapters are followed by "discussion questions" ideal for group study and participation. A valuable educational manual for students and professionals in the complex and changing field.
Leading text, but could be improved.......2002-12-19
The strongest advantage to this book is that it is written by one who was intimately involved in the development of the various codes of ethics adopted by social workers over the last thirty years. When Reamer explains a principle, value, or rule, the reader gets the feeling that it is an inside peak into the thought processes the committees actually shared.
Reamer presents social work as a value-laden profession. In chapter one he shares a brief historical perspective on the profession, and places the development of ethical codes for social workers within a larger national context that includes erosion of confidence in authority figures and scientific explanations.
The second chapter provides an excellent discussion of values and their importance to the profession, and it reconsiders the historical roots as a conflict between "case" social work and "cause" social work. His summary of the six orientations that have been taken toward social work is excellent. This chapter includes a long listing of various taxonomies of social work values. While of interest historically, it seemed a bit out of place and somewhat peripheral to the primary focus of the book, that is, the preparation of social workers for practice. It closes with discussion of the inevitable conflict between personal and professional values, and points to the implications of trust and distributive justice as effective means to resolve the conflict.
Ethical dilemmas and decision making are the focus of chapter three. Once again Reamer adds to his historical summary, including additional material on the development of social work codes of ethics. By this point the reader will be convinced that Reamer should have included one good chapter of history so that the three historical streams in the first three chapters could have been presented as one. He also discusses the NASW Code (1996) in detail, but this is best utilized by those who are updating their knowledge from an earlier code. Entry-level social workers do not really need to know how the code has changed, as much as they need to know the current text.
In the second half of chapter three, Reamer takes a more philosophical slant that tends to rely heavily on utilitarianism and on John Rawls' distributive justice. Reamer also presents his schema for resolving ethical conflict. This section is weak in two respects. First, Lowenberg and Dolgoff's ethical principles screen is not included in the discussion. Secondly, I feel that Reamer fails to address contemporary pressures, both political and religious, toward recognition and adoption of an absolutist approach to ethics.
Chapters four and five are application chapters in which Reamer guides discussion of a variety of ethical conflicts that have been and will be faced by practitioners. An argument could be made that these chapters represent the strength of the book. Reamer concludes with a final chapter on malpractice and the entire NASW code (1996) in an appendix.
Instructors considering Reamer as a textbook are warned that supplemental materials may be required. I believe additional information in moral philosophy and the ethical principles screen should be considered. Further, I believe that instructors will find it useful to integrate Reamer's historical sections into a more coherent format for student comprehension.
Book Description
With an aim to bring caring back into economic theory, this work draws upon the work of Aristotle and Amartya Sen's notions of capability and commitment, to propose an alternative methodology to utilitarianism that is not normative.
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Candles in the Dark: A New Spirit for a Plural World
Barbara Sundberg Baudot
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 20th Century
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ASIN: 0295982926 |
Book Description
Candles in the Dark is an international compendium of essays that share a sense of the importance of introducing ethical and spiritual concepts and values into the public discourse on progress and globalization issues. They offer a new approach to international relations and public policy that esteems the human spirit and dignity as central values in decision making, seeks links between self interest and the common good, and introduces, in a practical way, philosophical, spiritual, and cultural perspectives in the political discourse on global political and socioeconomic problems.
"The great challenge facing us at the start of this millennium is to ensure that globalizaiton becomes a force that benefits all people, not a windfall that rewards only the privileged few. . . . It is my hope that this publication will serve as a source of inspiration to our effors." --Kofi A. Annan
"From the most favored and the lesser favored countries of the world and those people who tell of the common task of peace and well-being comes this wonderfully persuasive guide to a better life for all." -- John Kenneth Galbraith
Book Description
Drawing on remarkably frank, in-depth interviews with 160 successful men in the United States and France, Michèle Lamont provides a rare and revealing collective portrait of the upper-middle class—the managers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and experts at the center of power in society. Her book is a subtle, textured description of how these men define the values and attitudes they consider essential in separating themselves—and their class—from everyone else.
Money, Morals, and Manners is an ambitious and sophisticated attempt to illuminate the nature of social class in modern society. For all those who downplay the importance of unequal social groups, it will be a revelation.
"A powerful, cogent study that will provide an elevated basis for debates in the sociology of culture for years to come."—David Gartman, American Journal of Sociology
"A major accomplishment! Combining cultural analysis and comparative approach with a splendid literary style, this book significantly broadens the understanding of stratification and inequality. . . . This book will provoke debate, inspire research, and serve as a model for many years to come."—R. Granfield, Choice
"This is an exceptionally fine piece of work, a splendid example of the sociologist's craft."—Lewis Coser, Boston College
Customer Reviews:
Great Item.......2007-01-11
I learned one of the chapters in my political science class. I love the culture difference between these two nation.
NOT WRITTEN VERY WELL, BUT THE INSIGHTS ARE VERY IMPORTANT.......2006-11-23
This book was very helpful in preparing me to live in France, but I had to struggle to read it as it is very badly written. Yet I would still recommend you read it if you have the time to organize the author's ideas yourself.
FRANCE is very different because they have economic security with lifetime contracts of employment, health care, free education, pensions, and help with the children, lots of vacation while Americans have little to none of any of those things.
The difference in economic structure and the resources available in each country shape the lives of the people living inside each system.
American (white) men vs. des hommes francais (blancs).......2004-12-24
Lamont is prescient. This book is timely now. When Americans are saying they should boycott French fries, Franco-American relations are at an all-time low. Dr. Lamont analyzes the differences in how well-educated American men think in comparison to their French counterparts.
She divides the research into 3 themes: elite men divide who they think are good and who they think are bad based upon money, morality, and mannerisms/culture. She looks at the macro level showing how one nation may use more of one or two of the three traits than the other country. She also gets specific by show how the ideas mean different things to individuals. For example, American men like men who know many concrete facts whereas French men like men who are witty and have good grammar. Lamont does a great job in quantify and classifying ideas that most people would think are nebulous and intangible.
This is men's studies by default. Those who uphold "race, class, and gender" rhetoric may be disappointed. She excludes people of color saying few of them fit this elite category. She supposedly compares these men to a small group of women, but the women were only brought up once in the book. When Lamont speaks of the "elite" she is talking about education rather than income. Some of the careers mentioned here (teacher, reverend, bank employee, etc.) do not sound that unique or rare to me. Lamont explores race in her next book. Fans of men's studies and white studies may find this work helpful in formulating theory.
Unfortunately, this comparative work will do little to encourage multinational tolerance. I think Lamont makes French men sound somewhat weird. Many think nothing of cheating on their wives. How is that honest and helpful to a relationship? One French interviewee said he does not care if his employees are competent, so long as they are working on improving their lives. Hello? Sometimes competency is necessary. Is that why part of Paris' airport collapsed recently and 4 people were killed? Because being witty and quoting Rousseau means more than being an expert in your technical field?!
Chapter five is a summary chapter which might as well have been an introduction instead. Students with little time to read this book before class can just read that chapter. Though Lamont rightfully compares the big city to the boondocks, those differences didn't really play out. Since they were neither here nor there, they might as well have been excluded. I am impressed how she got so much information on such esoteric matter from each man in just approximately two hours.
I liked Lamont's second book better. This was took forever to read unlike her more recent book. That book brought up schisms that materially affect nations whereas, truth be told, the Americans and the French are never going to come to blows about anything. Still, this shows she's a deep thinker and that she continues to improve as a scholar.
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Managing by Values: A Corporate Guide to Living, Being Alive, and Making a Living in the 21st Century
Simon L. Dolan ,
Salvador Garcia , and
Bonnie Richley
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0230000266
Release Date: 2006-10-03 |
Book Description
A growing trend toward knowledge workers and more highly educated employees has made effective human resource management a key metric separating the corporate wheat from the chaff. Studies confirm that the way people are managed and developed delivers a higher return on investment than new technology, R&D, competitive strategy or quality initiatives. In this book, the authors contend that the broader management models of Management by Instructions and Management by Objectives fail to position organizations for competitive success. What is needed is a strategic leadership tool whose practical application will mine market potential through its relevance to individual organizational members. With a step by step guide to implementation, Managing by Values is just such a tool.
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Environmental Ethics & Forestry (Environmental Ethics Values An)
Peter List
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Ethics & Morality
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Forests
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| Deforestation
| Ecology
| Economics
| Fires
| Management
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| Wood Science
ASIN: 1566397855 |
Book Description
During the past twenty-five years, North American forestry has received increasingly vigorous scrutiny. Critics including the environmentalists, environmental scientists, representatives of public interest groups, and many individual citizens have expressed concerns about forestry's basic assumptions and methods, as well as its practical outcomes. Criticism has centered on such issues as the exploitation of forests for timber production, the reduction and fragmentation of old-growth habitats, the destruction of biodiversity, the degradation of grasslands through grazing practices, lack of government attention to recreation facilities, silvicultural methods like clearcutting and the use of herbicides and pesticides, the exportation of industrial forestry techniques to other parts of the world, and the use of public monies to provide services for private resouce companies, as in the creation of logging roads.
This rising tide of public scrutiny has led many foresters to suspect that their "contract" with society to manage forests using their best professional judgment had been undermined. Some of these professionals, as well as some of their critics, have begun to reexamine their old beliefs and to look for new ways of practicing forestry. Part of this reflective process has entailed new directions in environmental ethics and environmental philosophy.
This reader brings together some of the new thinking in this area. Here students of the applied environmental and natural resource sciences, as well as the interested general reader, will discover a rich sampling of writings in environmental ethics and philosophy as they apply to forestry. Readings focus on basic ethical systems in forestry and forest management, philosophical issues in forestry ethics, codes of ethics in forestry and related natural resource sciences such as fisheries science and wildlife biology, Aldo Leopold's land ethic in forestry, ethical advocacy and whistleblowing in government resource agencies, the ethics of new forestry, ecoforestry, and public debate in forestry, as well as ethical issues in global forestry such as the responsibilities of forest corporations, environmentalists, and individual wood consumers.
This volume contains materials from the founders of forestry ethics, such as Bernhard Fernow, Giford Pinchot, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold; from such organizations as the Society of American Foresters, the Wildlife Society, the American Fisheries Society, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, and the Ecoforesters group, in addition to writings by a variety of well-known environmental philosophers and foresters, including Holmes Rolston, Robin Attfield, Lawrence Johnson, Michael McDonald, Paul Wood, James E. Coufal, Raymond Craig, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Jeff DeBonis, Jim L. Bowyer, Alasdair Gunn, Goug Gaigle, Alan G. McQuillan, Stephanie Kaza, Alan Dregson, Duncan Taylor, and Kathleen Dean Moore.
Customer Reviews:
A Wonderful Collection.......2001-07-14
As a professional philosopher and a forester-in-training I was pleased to come across this new volume. I had been looking to integrate my interest in forestry, the accessibility of the forest near where I teach, and concrete issues in land managment into my Environmental Ethics class. This book fits the bill. Moving from the ambiguous beginnings of forestry in America reflected in the work of Pinchot and Leopold and Muir through systematic reflections on ethics and forestry to a broad sampling of contemporary debates, this book is at once a compendium of good philosophy and good policy debate. I plan on building my course around this text this coming semester.
Customer Reviews:
A Thoughtful, Inspired Set of Library Touchstones -- But Written Somewhat Arrogantly.......2007-01-02
Michael Gorman is a controversial figure in library circles, but he has made significant contributions to the field. Even for those who disagree with some of his views, Our Enduring Values cannot and should not be ignored. This work is a critical look at the professional values that shape the library and information science profession, how those values developed, and where they're headed (i.e. what challenges are we facing?). We're talking about things like intellectual freedom, stewardship, privacy, and literacy/learning -- just to mention a few.
I disagree with anyone who calls this book boring or repetitive. In fact, each chapter is dedicated to a different value and is loaded with examples, rhetorical questions, and passionate insights for critical readers to weigh. One problem with the book is that it's written in something of an elitist tone and might be off-putting if you don't necessarily share Gorman's social/political worldview or get all of his references. I find many of his arguments compelling, spot-on, and convincing. And I find others somewhat alarmist or overstated. What matters most is that the book is a way for people in the library world (or just joining it) to reflect on the profession...to examine what defines and unites us as librarians.
This was required reading for my first semester of library school, and I'd say that it will stick with me as I think about the future. People who hated this book or found it boring are (no offense intended) probably people who don't like thinking critically about the big picture of what they're doing. This isn't a how-to book or a regular textbook, but it's a way to frame discussions, policies, and practices. Whether you like Mr. Gorman or not, it's a must-read.
Boring, boring, boring.......2005-08-07
Let's face it, not all reviews are going to be written by people that know the author, or will give him the benefit of the doubt. We had to read this for a library information science class, and most of my peers hated it. I showed it to my boss at our library and she thought it was ridiculous. The author says the same thing over and over, in what could have been a 20 page essay. I recommend looking elsewhere.
Good eye opener for the mind map.......2004-12-13
Those who are fed up with quantitative benchmarks, can now turn around and see why our quantification and stats dont matter much.
A reviewer of this book has already said what I think on this approach of our profession:
[John Allen Delivuk - In the last century, we have seen a revolution in thinking, the move from virtues to values. The Victorians lived in a world where virtues such as honesty, modesty, faithfulness, kindness, patience, and self-control defined people. In the Victorian world, professions were not defined merely by professional knowledge, but also by common set of absolute virtues.]
See my listmania for more content that adds values / ethics / morality as a component of the LIS education
A good statement on librarianship today.......2001-02-07
In the last century, we have seen a revolution in thinking, the move from virtues to values. The Victorians lived in a world where virtues such as honesty, modesty, faithfulness, kindness, patience, and self-control defined people. In the Victorian world, professions were not defined merely by professional knowledge, but also by common set of absolute virtues. For example bankers and stock brokers were expected to be honest as well as able to add. In our time, the majority of persons have adopted the view that people can have differing sets of relative values instead of a common set of virtues.
The "values revolution" rejected virtues and thus left the professions such as librarianship with the problem of what to substitute for them. The American Library Association is attempting to substitute values for virtues. The questions then comes: what values? How do we define and practice them? How do these values fit into the present context of libraries? Michael Gorman, one of the world's leading library thinkers, has attempted to address these and other important questions in Our Enduring Values.
He begins by defining values as beliefs that are enduring preferences relating to the means and ends of the profession (p.6). When he attempts to give criteria for whether values are good or bad, he fails (p.8). Mr. Gorman's method is to derive the values from writers on the philosophy of librarianship. He than discusses the importance of libraries as institutions and physical locations. The chapter titles list his important values as stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, rationalism, literacy and learning, equity of access, privacy and democracy.
How well does he accomplish his goals? The goal of putting values in the present historical and cultural context is masterfully done. Gorman understands libraries and their mission as few others do. He is thus able to fit developments such as the information technology revolution into the context of the library and show correctly (in my opinion) how libraries will deal with them. Mr. Gorman uses his abundant common sense and his sense of humor to develop this topic. His discussion of the trends in modern librarianship is worth the price of the book.
I was less impressed by his discussion of values. To his credit, he has correctly selected the main values of the ALA. His discussions of stewardship and service are excellent and his discussion of literacy is not far behind the other two. His discussion of intellectual freedom omitted a consideration of how easy it is for librarians to become censors by imposing their values on the selection process. (Are differing values the key difference between selection and censorship?) His discussion on privacy defines it as confidentiality concerning what a person reads and looks at in the library. He does not discuss how privacy used in our society to protect criminals. He does not discuss the problem of addictive behavior. People, especially children, can start on the road to addictive behavior in the library. Knowledge of a child's library use can help a parent know when to get help. I was disappointed that he did not have a greater emphasis on need for the impartiality of librarians in helping the public understand controversial issues, like abortion. Finally, I do not see how we can be good stewards and servants without deciding the virtues needed fulfill those roles, and making them part of library education. In conclusion, let me recommend Our Enduring Values too anyone wanting to better understand the current direction and thinking of our profession. It is worth reading twice.
great book for critical thinkers.......2001-01-29
This book is a must read for anyone who loves libraries and is concerned about reading in our digital age.
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Legitimate Differences: Interpretation in the Abortion Controversy and Other Public Debates
Georgia Warnke
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Social Policy
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Abortion & Birth Control
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ASIN: 0520216334 |
Book Description
Legitimate Differences challenges the usual portrayal of current debates over thorny social issues including abortion, pornography, affirmative action, and surrogate mothering as moral debates. How can it be said that our debates oppose principles of life to those of liberty, principles of liberty to those of equality, principles of equality to those of fairness, and principles of fairness to those of integrity, when we as Americans share all these principles?
Debates over such issues are not, Georgia Warnke argues, moral debates over which principles we should adopt. Rather, they are interpretive debates over the meanings of principles we already possess. Warnke traces the structure of these debates with reference to the work of Jane Austen, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jürgen Habermas, and Bernard Williams. In separate chapters on surrogate mothering, affirmative action, abortion, and pornography she articulates new understandings of the meanings of some of our principles and shows the equal legitimacy of some different interpretations of the meanings of others. Finally, she suggests that the orientation of American public policy ought to be directed less at finding single canonical interpretations of our principles than at accommodating different legitimate understandings of them. The perspective offered by Legitimate Differences should have a significantly beneficial effect on public discussions.
Book Description
Is America bitterly divided? Has America lost its traditional values? Many politicians and religious leaders believe so, as do the majority of Americans, based on public opinion polls taken over the past several years. But is this crisis of values real?
This book explores the moral terrain of America today, analyzing the widely held perception that the nation is in moral decline. It looks at the question from a variety of angles, examining traditional values, secular values, religious values, family values, economic values, and others. Using unique data from the World Values Surveys, the largest systematic attempt ever made to document attitudes, values, and beliefs around the world, this book systematically evaluates the perceived crisis of values by comparing America's values with those of over 60 other nations.
The results are surprising. The evidence shows overwhelmingly that America has not lost its traditional values, that the nation compares favorably with most other societies, and that the culture war is largely a myth.
The gap between reality and perception does not represent mass ignorance of the facts or an overblown moral panic, Baker contends. Rather, the widespread perception of a crisis of values is a real and legitimate interpretation of life in a society that is in the middle of a fundamental transformation and that contains growing cultural contradictions. Instead of posing a problem, the author argues, this crisis rhetoric serves the valuable social function of reminding us of what it means to be American. As such, it preserves the ideological foundation of the nation.
Customer Reviews:
Important social science research for generations.......2005-05-09
In this timely volume, Wayne E. Baker cuts through both the media and pop-politics hype to argue that America has not lost its values and we are not subsequently headed for trouble. Having waded through the ever-growing mountain of criticism about values, I was pleased by Baker's fresh approach to this enduring policy question.
His comparative international study argues that the values argument and related campaigns are nothing more than a very elaborate `smoke and mirrors' arrangement which is designed to play on public insecurity and lack of complete information how America fares against itself and other nations.
The success of the culture war can ultimately be attributed to the fact that emotional charge can successfully get people riled up and against each other over actually nothing. "They" are doing the right thing, but people then worry that their neighbors are somehow doing something `different' from their own actions.
Baker's evidence from religion, psychology, and sociology presents a rational argument that our values are just fine as they are, thank you.
The overall absurdity of the `declining values' argument against this strong research package has not prevented politicians from using `values' charges and statements inside their own campaigns however.
They have practically campaigned on `restoring values' even though we cannot fix something which is not already broken. Yet, Baker suggests that the politicians and candidates (who also live in this society) may not have access to the truth either. They may also honestly not realize that everything is in fact okay.
This truly non-partisan approach makes Baker's research much more substantial than a tome written by an individual/foundation with a specific political ideology. Baker can concede that nobody has a monopoloy on 'good values' but America is not a repository for 'bad values' either. Because wallowing in partisan muck has been proven much easier (including for book sales and media hype) Baker himself is a paragon of values.
Finally, the emotional grasp of `values' on the American psyche is so effectively bipartisan that politicians from both political parties campaign to this imagined crisis. The success of the DLC (who had also endorsed v-chips) and the 2000 Democratic ticket of Gore/Lieberman (which talked about their own belief in values in an attempt to offset the Republicans) also demonstrate that the Democrats were equally anxious to campaign on `restoring values' in America.
Baker's research is a necessary acquisition for both academic libraries and personal collections. It is a must read for politicians from all points on the political spectrum so we can finally move onto problems which do exist in America.
Thought-provoking and timely synthesis.......2005-04-15
The best thing about this book is that it raises a number of very profound and important questions in a way that makes you think deeply about them. If you have any interest at all in what insight scientific reasoning can bring into large scale human behavior, this book will truly make you think.
Rather than the usual political diatribe, this is: (1) an exceptional objective summary of what is special about the United States drawing from a wealth of previous work, (2) a wide-ranging and balanced analysis of the widespread American perception of waging an internal culture war at the turn of the millennia, and (3) a speculative and potentially somewhat testable (but largely untested) cyclical theory of cultural crises in general as a product of both endogenous and exogenous factors.
Baker finds no empirical support for the theory that American traditional values have diminished over time, and support for only a loose coupling of our polarized moral orientations (which he refers to as absolutism and relativism) and our religious beliefs and social attitudes. In this context, absolutism simply refers to the core idea that ultimate authority must come from a transcendental and perhaps eternal source, while relativism is the core idea that authority resides in the individual.
Baker finds that our political parties are highly and increasingly polarized but that when it comes to particular issues, Americans of all stripes tend to share more values and attitudes than they differ about, in spite of also being a mixture of absolutists and relativists. This is because he finds that our moral orientation is only loosely coupled to our religious beliefs and social attitudes. People can have the same religious beliefs yet differ in social attitudes, and vice versa, and similarly for our moral orientations and our religious beliefs. There are atheist absolutists and Christian relativists. Absolutists and relativists live and work and worship and debate side by side in the U.S. rather than representing a divided social structure.
When political pundits try to put every social issue in terms of the two sides of the culture war (usually Christians vs. Secularists), according to Baker's analysis they are making an unwarranted assumption that beliefs, attitudes, and moral orientations are much more tightly coupled than they really are. Thus they are exaggerating the polarization of the nation. The question is ... why do we do this, and why does it seem so compellingly true?
Baker's data shows besides an elevated sense of anxiety over the economy, what made the 1980's most distinctive was that across every demographic category, huge numbers of Americans went from being moral relativists to being moral absolutists. Prior to 1980, by far most Americans answered survey questions in a way that revealed them to be moral relativists, but by 1990 we were half relativists and half absolutists. This even division, according to Baker, emphasizes the contrast between these different moral orientations and the respective different guides they provide to conduct and the evaluation of goals. It is this even distribution of absolutism and relativism that Baker theorizes creates the impression of being a divided nation, even though our traditional values have during the same period remained entirely stable, we have remained remarkably independent of the secularization trend of the other modern nations, and we are actually converging over time rather than polarizing over social issues (with the notable exception of abortion).
So Baker does find a gap between the facts of American culture revealed by values surveys, and American'ss perception of their own values. However he does not dismiss the gap as a matter of mass hysteria or ignorance or simply political propaganda. The primary purpose of the book is to engage in a systematic analysis and understanding of the "adaptive" or "functional" reason for this gap. The assumption is that perceiving ourselves as waging a culture war is important for some reason and that our public rhetoric has adapted to that need. The adaptive reason that Baker comes up with is that America is unique in being a nation united by creed and ideology rather than by culture, and so as a result of our unique cultural heritage, traditional values have become the thing that make us Americans. Traditional values are on one end of one of Baker's well-validated values scales, the other end being secular-rational values. Secular-rational values are what the modernization and secularization theories expect us to see increasing as a nations wealth increases and as they shift from agriculture to industrial and service economies. We see that happen all over the world very consistently, except for the United States. The United States maintains its traditional value orientation over time because that is the source of its sense of identity as a nation and many Americans begin to feel threatened when they see evidence of encroaching secularization. In spite of highly visible legal conflicts over the interpretation of the establishment clause, we still share the same traditional values that unite us as Americans.
One of the main sources of confusion over American values can be seen in the second well-validated values scale that Baker uses: survival vs. self-expression values. Many discussions of values do not distinguish these two scales, yet factor analysis shows them to be reliably independent. Although Americans have retained their traditional values and have not moved increasingly toward secular-rational values as predicted by secularization theory and as seen in other nations, we have moved particularly far and quickly from survival values to self-expression values.
Self-expression values combine with traditional values to give the unique hybrid found in American culture, we internalize both traditional values and individualism, and these are actually different guides to conduct. The result is, according to Baker's theory, a uniquely motivated search for meaning among Americans in trying to reconcile their mixed traditional and self-expression values. This is an interesting and unexpected aspect of Baker's synthesis: he says that the contradictions created by traditional + self-expression values create a cognitive dissonance, leading to the feeling or perception of a crisis of values.
Baker gives just enough background to make his point and show its relevance to his argument, but never so much that I forgot the point he was trying to make. You'll be introduced to various theories of religious history and cultural evolution, various psychological theories of how beliefs and attitudes are related, several fascinating maps of the values of different nations and how they have changed in recent years, and a revealing look at how absolutism and relativism affect our thinking.
Good, if not perfect.......2005-04-11
This is a good, but not perfect, study of values in the U.S., testing various hypotheses related to the perception that traditional values are declining in America. An earlier reviewer got rather overheated about what he/she saw as the ethnocentric nature of Baker's conclusions, and for a related bias in the instrument used. Neither is warranted: while the study suffers for its over-reliance upon survey data, the main survey (the World Values Survey) is a carefully designed and conscientiously administered instrument, and the conclusions are not so much ethnocentric as understandably formulated with an American audience in mind. The biggest problem with the book, in addition to its overreliance upon one method (surveys), is its layout: the absence of statistical tables in the main text may lead one to think that it is accessible to those lacking statistical knowledge, but the text continuously refers to the multitude of tables in the Appendix, in a highly annoying fashion.
A Disturbing Use of Social Science "Research".......2005-03-24
I was excited when I started reading this book. Baker writes well and provides a strong overview of the general issues. However, he then goes on to "test" various hypotheses about the moral state of America with one of the most ridiculous questionairres I have ever seen - the World Survey of Values. He claims that it is cross-cultural and not ethonocentric. However, in several sections of the book, it is suggested that America is superior to other countries. He also makes the bizarre conclusion that Americans subscribe to common values and there is no "culture war." This is what his data suggests. It does not seem to matter that a multitude of current events completely contradict this conclusion.
Clearly - I found Baker's unwavering ethonocentricity, despite his claims of being unbiased, offensive. But more importantly, there are SERIOUS problems with his "data" and it is disturbing that anyone would believe some likert scales can provide solid answers about a complex issue of moral well-being.
I like his moxie in trying to address this issue systematically, and I even like some of the conclusions he makes...but there is a need to think critically about what constitutes evidence and what kinds of inquiry are appropriate for examining these kinds of issues.
Average customer rating:
- One of Several Useful Books on Artificial Intelligence, but not an Exceptional One
- I know this is an intro book but c'mon!
- Where are we going?
- An odd mixture of optimism and cynicism
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Digital Soul: Intelligent Machines and Human Values
T. M. Georges , and
Thomas M. Georges
Manufacturer: Westview Press
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Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids
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The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
ASIN: 0813340578
Release Date: 2003-03-18 |
Book Description
How should we prepare for the day when machines think and feel as well as - or better than - humans do?
Should the day come when intelligent machines not only make computations but also think and experience emotions as humans do, how will we distinguish the human from the machine? This introduction to artificial intelligence - and to its potentially profound social, moral, and ethical implications - is designed for readers with little or no technical background. In accessible, focused, engaging discussions, physicist and award-winning science writer Thomas Georges explores the fundamental issues: What is consciousness? Can computers be conscious? If machines could think and even feel, would they then be entitled to human rights? Will machines and people merge into a biomechanical race? Should we worry that super-intelligent machines might take over the world?
Even now we continue to put increasingly sophisticated machines in control of critical aspects of our lives in ways that may hold unforeseen consequences for the human race. Digital Soul challenges all of us, before it's too late, to think carefully and rationally about the kind of world we will want to live in - with intelligent machines ever closer by our sides.
Customer Reviews:
One of Several Useful Books on Artificial Intelligence, but not an Exceptional One.......2007-01-02
In recent years a spate of books has appeared on the rise of intelligent machines and what that might mean for the future of humanity. "Digital Soul" is among them, and it purports to be a basic introduction to the subject of artificial intelligence and the future. Clearly written and at times engaging, "Digital Soul" asks a range of interesting questions: What defines life? What defines consciousness? Can a machine be alive, can it be conscious? If either alive or conscious does a machine the have rights and privileges that we extend to other living things? Do intelligent machines pose a threat to humanity as depicted in many popular science fiction books and film? Unfortunately, Thomas M. Georges does not offer a sustained and penetrating analysis of them.
Georges suggests that the creation of sentient artificial intelligence is a virtual surety in the twenty-first century if the current level of advancement is maintained. Such a development, he believes, would force humanity to reconsider their everyday beliefs, scientific perspectives, political relations, and religious conceptions. As he put it, the creation of "superintelligent extraterrestrials" living among us on Earth must prompt a rethinking of deeply held beliefs and values.
This is a modest explication of a complex subject. It may be read with profit as an introduction of the possibilities for the future of artificial intelligence. But there are several other books of a similar nature that deserve more sustained consideration. For instance, after reading "Digital Soul" please also consider Ray Kurzweil, "The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence" (Penguin, 1998); Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, "Robo Sapiens: Evolution of a New Species" (MIT Press, 2000); Rodney Brooks, "Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us" (Pantheon, 2002); Sidney Perkowirz, "Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids" (Joseph Henry Press, 2004); James Hughes, "Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future" (Westview Press, 2004); and Joel Garreau, "Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies--And What It Means to Be Human" (Doubleday, 2005).
Even so, I have yet to find a really outstanding book on this subject written at an introductory level. I will continue my search. Meantime, "Digital Soul" is one among several works that is useful, but not path breaking.
I know this is an intro book but c'mon!.......2003-12-21
This is one of only 3 books I've been willing to review after giving up half way through. Georges is a crystal clear, and sometinmes entertaining writer. The book, though, is uncritical, unduly repetitive, and even superficial.
Am I expecting too much? This is, after all, suppoosed to be an intro book. No, my appraial is not based on a highfalutin motive. In fact, it is because this is an intro book that I think there is a disservice done by its surface level approach.
Each chapter (at least in the first half) follows a pretty simple formula. The author asks questions like can machines think, emote, reason, be conscious, understand, etc. Letitimate questions, all. His response, though, seems to be "Yes, they can do all. Why? No one has proved that they cannot; that's why." I suppose that in its own way, this is a legitimate reason to remain agnostic on whether computers could one day achieve these traits, but it is also an easy way to dismiss the question. Scientists do not - or should not - work that way. A theory is not viable simply no one has disproven it. Rather, evidence must first be martialled in its favor for it to be taken seriously. (Not that this can't be done for AI, but the author owes it to us to at least survey the arguments).
Second, the author takes these traits (emotion, consciousness, reason, etc) and in an effort to 'understand' waht they are and get some sense of how they might work, he offers a simple explanation: evolution created them. Now I believe wholeheartedly in evolution rather than creation and my qualm is not whether the statement is valid. Rather, it is whether 'evolution did it,' is an answer to his question at all. Saying that evolution created consciousness does nothing to illuminate our view on what it is and what makes it work. Of course, we don't have any really outstanding theories yet, but again, the author owes it to us to at least survey waht we do have.
Third, the author accepts UNCRITICALLY the thought that AI will create machine minds and even ones that outgrow us. While this is a possibility, an introductory book like this, should be examining the legitimate criticsism (By people like Searle, McGinn, and Lanier) against it. Rather, he answers criticism of strong AI by suggesting that anyone who denies it must be a mystic who believes in a soul or god or some other immaterial substance. Not true! There are legitimate criticms of AI and I get the feeling that the intro reader is going to come away from this book with the false impresion that there are not scientifically based criticisms.
The long and the short is that this book is simply lightweight enough for me to fear that the first-time reader will not be exposed to very much from this book. For those who want to read some thoughtful introductions, "Is Data Human" by Michael Hanley, "Society of Mind" by Marvin Minsky (which this book cites from) and "The Minds I" by Hofstadter and Dennett are good ones. With the exception of the first, all of these books may be a little more tedious (not much) than "Digital Soul" but they are also more informative.
Where are we going?.......2003-05-07
And will "we" still be here when we get there?
Digital Soul is about the nature of our world when machines become as intelligent as humans and beyond. It is also about the nature of those machines. It is clear that Georges has thought long and hard about the subject, has read widely and has compared notes with other futurists. His expression is reasoned and reasonable. There are no muddy sentences or mystical ambiguities. He has worked hard to make sure that his ideas are accessible to a wide range of people including those with no expertise in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Clearly the problem is to derive benefit from super intelligent machines without letting them take over our lives. Georges believes that it will be difficult to do that since, as the machines get smarter and smarter and we allow them more and more latitude and we more and more depend on them, they will come to control us.
But this is where I think Georges goes astray. The question I would ask is, would they WANT to control us?
Georges implies that human-like values, such as that of self-preservation will automatically follow from machines becoming intelligent. But actually the machines will have no values at all and no desire, either. They will have no inclination to act except as such inclinations are built into their make-up.
Georges also implies that he knows what qualities or values are desirable in a machine. He speaks of "nicer, testosterone-free, superhuman beings" as opposed to "greedy, violent, barbaric, self-absorbed" beings. (p. 212) While these are surely agreeable preferences, it is not clear that artificial creatures designed according to human choice would long survive.
It is also not clear that we would want to design machines according to human values. We would want to design them as tools (which they are) to assist us in following our desires and supporting our values. Notice the difference. Machines that work toward fulfilling the desires and upholding the values of human beings are not the same as machines that contain the desires and values of human beings.
What I think Georges temporarily forgets is that no machine is going to "want" to do anything unless "desire" is built into the machine. The machine doesn't care whether it is plugged in or not unless we somehow encode such a desire into the machine. What Georges seems to assume is that somehow the complexity that we will demand from machines will somehow necessitate that we inculcate desire, self-preservation and the like into the machine. I think this will not be necessary at all. Indeed I suspect our machines will tell us that they will be able to function just fine without the institution of some kind of supercode or primary instruction telling them to protect themselves and have ulterior motives. (Such notions led to HAL 9000's murderous behavior in Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.)
I think a more likely future (and one that Georges addresses) is a symbiosis between people and intelligent machines in which the machines have the knowledge, skill and intelligence necessary for making decisions, but that the actual decisions and the impetus for action remain with human beings.
However, should intelligent machines, as Georges fears, somehow acquire purpose and goals and desires such as self-preservation, then there is a great danger of our lives being taken over and controlled by intelligent machines. He warns us that we have to guard against that danger.
Georges rightly brings up the Fermi Paradox in Chapter 18. Since it would appear (to some at least) that the universe is teeming with intelligent life, Fermi famously asked, "Where is everybody?" One of the many answers (aside from "we are alone") is that "technological civilizations have a very short life expectancy, because they promptly destroy themselves during their technological adolescence." This insight from Georges on page 214 is another way of pointing to what he is worried about. Still another way (perhaps) of expressing this is to say that we will merge with our intelligent machines, and having acquired a sort of superintelligence, will find that the values that were built into us by the evolutionary mechanism are muted, values such as self-preservation, curiosity, greed, anger, vengeance, etc. Any sort of desire may be culturally evolved out of us. Why do anything at all? may very well become the unanswerable question. Perhaps this is what happens to technological civilizations in their adolescence, and that is why we haven't heard from them.
Beyond this I think we need to realize that evolutionary creatures, which we are, are just a place along the way to something else. What that something else will be is as much beyond our ken as understanding quantum mechanics is to bubble bees.
Regardless of some disagreements this is a very interesting book well worth reading from cover to cover. I agree with his enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and I agree that we should continue to pursue its development and not become neo-Luddites. But I am not afraid of a future without human beings as we are now constituted. We are imperfect creatures. We are appropriate and adapted to the present environment. When the environment changes, as it surely will, we may no longer be able to adapt and may go the way of the dodo. So be it. We know from looking at the past that all species eventually die. New ones come into existence. Should the future be any different?
As we see the limitations of humanity, as we see ourselves for the first time as we really are, perhaps it is time for a greater identification. Instead of identifying exclusively with human beings, might we not identify with a larger process that encompasses all life forms including those to come?
An odd mixture of optimism and cynicism.......2003-04-07
The topic of machine intelligence continues to inspire both worry and elation. This book is an interesting mixture of these two, for the author is both optimistic about the eventual rise of machine intelligence, which he argues is to a large degree already here, but he is also clearly concerned about its possible negative consequences. Failure to understand and adapt to the new technologies arising may threaten us with extinction, he argues in the first chapter of the book.
He also states in chapter 1 that in order to survive our "technological adolescence" humans must lose some of their "self-destructive evolutionary baggage." This belief seems to be a popular one, being pervasive in literature, performing arts, and philosophy. But from a statistical/scientific standpoint, it is clearly unsupported. In comparison to the total number of humans who have ever lived, only a tiny minority of individuals throughout history have ever hurt anyone physically; an even smaller number have actually killed another human being. The author's cynicism here is totally unjustified.
The author though does engage in interesting discussion on the nature of intelligence and why he believes that machines are already more intelligent than humans are in certain specialized domains. Because of this, he also argues (correctly) that the further rise of machine intelligence will take place incrementally, with no well-defined time at which one could say that machine intelligence has surpassed human intelligence. It seems as though we have learned to live with machines doing things better than we can, at least in some areas, but have not yet viewed these capabilities as being "intelligent". But, asks the author, if they are more intelligent, at least in these areas, how would one know if they are working properly? It is at this point that the author believes that one should worry about the future of humanity as the dominant life-form on Earth.
Throughout the book, the author shows keen insight into the real goals behind research and development in A.I. The main goal he says is not to create machines that think and behave completely like humans, but find solutions to problems and do tasks that humans require. This will bring about, the author believes, intelligent machines whose cognitive abilities are quite unique, and characteristically non-human-like. There are many examples of his opinions on these matters in current developments in A.I., such as genetic programming and automatic theorem proving. These two areas have exhibited solutions to problems that clearly are very different than what humans would have done.
In addition, and perhaps to the alarm of some philosophers, the author takes a pragmatic view concerning the question as to whether machines can think. He clearly does not want to engage in the arm-chair philosophical debates about this question, and considers them totally irrelevant. What matters to him is whether the machine "acts in all respects" as though it understands. The imputation of mental processes to a machine will assist in the understanding of how it works and what it can do, and this is perfectly fine with the author. But this does, in the author's view raise questions as to the legal and ethical status of thinking machines.
Because of the title of the book, it is not surprising to find a discussion of the "strong A.I." problem included in it. The author spends a chapter addressing the nature of consciousness and some of the ideas and myths surrounding it. He recognizes, correctly, that the doctrines of vitalism and dualism are not useful at all from a scientific perspective. The proponents of these doctrines adhere to the "irreducibility" of consciousness, and therefore to the untenability of its analysis. Pure speculation is thus the tool of inquiry, all of this done on the philosopher's armchair and not in the laboratory. The author though, thankfully, advocates a purely scientific approach, taking the physical nature of consciousness as an axiom, and then seeing how far this will lead. His analysis and commentary throughout the chapter are very interesting and connected with evolutionary arguments as to why consciousness is structured the way it is.
Most interesting is the author's discussion on the role of emotions in human cognition. Not viewing emotions as inherently undesirable or "irrational", he gives reasons for wanting to incorporate them into an intelligent machine. One of these is an algorithmic notion: emotions provide a "weighting scheme" that will filter out undesirable paths in the total path space of alternatives. Anyone who has attempted to design search algorithms will understand the importance of weighting schemes that will allow pruning of the search space. The same goes for those involved in the design of neural networks for pattern matching or time series prediction: bias nodes are essential for the proper function of the neural network. The author gives as an example the biases that are built into chess-playing machines, without which the machine's capabilities would be crippled.
The author definitely believes in the possibility of machines "taking over", devoting an entire chapter to the possible scenarios that might bring this about. But his cynicism acts against him here, namely his belief that humans, even though clearly expressing intelligence, are prone to extreme violence. His notion of intelligence therefore is too narrow: an alternative one is that the more intelligent an entity becomes, the less prone to violence it becomes. In other words, violence disrupts the cognitive flow of the entity in question, and it avoids it out of necessity: to maintain a state of intelligence that not only has survival value but may indeed be purely a subjective need. The degree of intelligence is thus inversely related to the violence participated in. There are many examples of this, billions in fact, these being the humans who have lived throughout history. The vast majority of humans have been superb thinking machines, and they serve as excellent examples to the ones which they are creating and will create.
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