Character Is Destiny: The Value of Personal Ethics in Everyday Life

As Russell Gough implies, the fact that people are lapping up books on personal ethics, virtue, and character is best understood as a long-overdue reaction to the two dominant schools of pop psychology: the determinist "you are your upbringing" school and the free-individualist "express yourself, don't repress yourself" school. He insists, contrary to both, that we can indeed choose the content of our own character (even though bad habits of character are hard to break), and that doing this character-building is both a lifelong project and a central activity in all fulfilling and worthwhile lives.

Since he's a professor of philosophy, Gough's own addition to the growing library of books on "personal virtue" is grounded in a solid knowledge of thinkers like Aristotle and Emerson. He writes clearly, although in an introductory fashion, spending much of his time on basic issues such as the distinction between personality and character or the failure of intellectual knowledge of moral issues to induce people to act well. This is a well-written book that should be put in the hands of every serious-minded teenager, but adults--and those already familiar with philosophy--may want to sit at the feet of a more demanding tutor. --Richard Farr