Letter 2

For millennia, people have asked for a clear understanding of the differences between right and wrong, good and bad.
Renowned scholar Leonard Swidler addresses this age-old concern anew in his book What is Right and Wrong in his Letters to Will series. Swidler entertains a question from his granddaughter, Will, about the meaning of right and wrong in human experience and how we know these two conditions.

He presents you with how to understand these fundamental concepts as a matter of both individual perception and of social agreement. Swidler notes that all reality is based on perceptions, but its meaning is, at least partially, understood by our agreement of what ideas and concepts mean and their importance to each of us. Collective confusion about core ideas is not only counterproductive but dangerous. More than a few wars have been fought over the meaning or misunderstanding of words.

There is a price to pay for lack of dialogue. Swidler acknowledges Thomas Hobbes noting that "a war of all against all" destroys everyone. No group can function successfully for long if everyone in it just does what they want without regard to how it affects others in the group. There must be some agreement on certain core principles or values to have effective communication and to work together toward common goals.

That said, everyone struggles at times to answer important life questions. What is right and wrong? What is the meaning of life? Why do people believe different things? Why do we agree on certain core values?

Swidler explores these challenging questions and more in this response to Will. He establishes this dialogue with Will for the Letters to Will series and answers her concerns one by one in an approachable informative style in each letter. Through this process, you will feel like you are listening in on a simple conversation between a learned scholar and his curious granddaughter. The delightful result is well worth the read.

The topic may be weighty, but the conversation is personal and to the point. Swidler takes the heavy tone out of difficult to understand issues of human morality and confidently explains it. He deliberately addresses foundational issues like ethics and morality, the meaning of life, how we decide what is right and wrong, and why we do it. He provides examples for each concept and explores how principles build upon the previous one. The result is a more understood existence and a more approachable universe.

At its core, Swidler's letter uncovers the glue holding our moral society together as with the Golden Rule. Later coupled with the Global Ethic, the Golden Rule historically established common agreement for human interactions. It became a basis for our relationships, our legal codes, and our civilization. The phrase "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" became, in one form or another, a core principle for human interact...