A Decent Life Audiobook By Todd May cover art

A Decent Life

Morality for the Rest of Us

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A Decent Life

By: Todd May
Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
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About this listen

In a world full of suffering and deprivation, it's easy to despair - and it's also easy to judge ourselves for not doing more. Even if we gave away everything we own and devoted ourselves to good works, it wouldn't solve all the world's problems. It would make them better, though. So is that what we have to do? Is anything less a moral failure? Can we lead a fundamentally decent life without taking such drastic steps?

Todd May has answers. He's not the sort of philosopher who tells us we have to be model citizens who display perfect ethics in every decision we make. He's realistic: He understands that living up to ideals is a constant struggle. In A Decent Life, May leads listeners through the traditional philosophical bases of a number of arguments about what ethics asks of us, then he develops a more reasonable and achievable way of thinking about them, one that shows us how we can use philosophical insights to participate in the complicated world around us. He explores how we should approach the many relationships in our lives - with friends, family, animals, people in need - through the use of a more forgiving, if no less fundamentally serious, moral compass.

With humor, insight, and a lively and accessible style, May opens a discussion about how we can, realistically, lead the good life that we aspire to.

©2019 The University of Chicago (P)2019 Tantor
Ethics & Morality Philosophy Society Witty
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Read clearly and gracefully, this book leans on philosophy in order to help you be a better person in daily life, out of solidarity with those around us and not because there's a moral law ordering it. Whish Audible will record more of May's books

Simple and Inspirational

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Good food for thought. It caused me to consider some things that I had not before, and that is what I got this book for.

Thought provoking

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As the title of the book suggests, it is concerned with leading a decent life, what that means, how we might go about it, and why we should. The author lays out well reasoned arguments while allowing space for variation within the specifics. The narrator does a masterful job of capturing the voice and presenting complex concepts in an approachable way.

Insightful and Thought Provoking

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This book was a gift from a friend, and I was glad to find a free audiobook version—I'm just too busy to sit down and read these days. It starts off interestingly enough, covering entry-level concepts of morality, but unfortunately, it never moves beyond that surface level.

Rather than digging deeper into philosophical frameworks, the author veers off into personal opinions on veganism and climate change. Some of the claims made are based on outdated science, even by the standards of the book’s release. At one point, the author suggests going vegan for the environment and mentions meat alternatives that “taste close to the real thing,” but fails to acknowledge that the production of some of these alternatives can be more environmentally harmful than traditional meat.

I kept waiting for the book to explore moral complexity—how good intentions can lead to morally questionable outcomes, for example—but it never gets there. The overall message feels like “I believe this, therefore it's moral.”

The book is very flawed in how it presents its arguments. It might be okay for someone who’s never explored philosophy or moral reasoning, but for anyone looking for a more rigorous or balanced take, it’s a disappointment. It felt less like a work of philosophy and more like a first draft of someone’s personal stance on uncontroversial issues. Not terrible, but definitely mishandled.

A Shallow Dive Into Morality

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