Bending the Rules: The Flexibility of Absolutes in Modern Life

Do-unto-others-as-you-would-have-them-do-unto-you. Who would disagree with this 'Golden Rule'? We regard it as the basis of an absolute and universal morality. And yet it is considered acceptable to kill the enemy in war; for a businessman to do the best for himself; for a lawyer to argue professionally for a position he would personally reject. Are the moral rules we live by more flexible than they seem at first sight? In Bending the Rules Robert Hinde does not follow the much-trodden path of philosophizing about what is right and just. Instead, he uses an approach grounded in the behavioural sciences to explore the nature of morality, what people actually do, what they believe to be right, and what values they hold, and how these positions came to be. Such a deeper understanding of morality, he argues, as a product of biological and cultural evolution, and changing with social environment, holds out hope that we can avoid disaster and steer society towards peace and equity in the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ; 1. Ethical principles and precepts ; 2. The evolution of morality ; 3. Ethics and law ; 4. Exchange and reciprocity: conflict in Personal Relationships ; 5. Ethics and the physical sciences ; 6. Ethics and medicine ; 7. Ethics and politics ; 8. Ethics and business ; 9. Ethics and war ; 10. What does all this mean for the future? ; Appendix: Relations to Moral Philosophy

About the Author :
Robert A. Hinde is Emeritus Professor of Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and former Master of St. John's College, Cambridge. He is Chair of the British Pugwash Group (an organization set up in the 1950s to urge for greater social responsibility in science), President of the Movement for the Abolition of War, Fellow of the Royal Society, Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, Honorary Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His academic career spans ethology, primatology, and developmental and social psychology, and his most recent books include War No More (2003, with Joseph Rotblat); Why good is good (2002); and Why Gods Persist: A Scientific Approach to Religion (1999).

Review :
Review from previous edition Robert Hinde is one of the world's most esteemed researchers on behavioural and social development. Beyond academe, he has had a sustained and committed engagement - through the Pugwash movement, and in other contexts - with the social and political challenges of our time. 'Bending the Rules' offers an insightful perspective on the new and perplexing moral conflicts that confront us in the 21st century - both as individuals, and collectively. We should be grateful to him: his wise and humane book deserves wide readership. Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society Robert Hinde is one of the greatest ethologists, and a pioneer in linking various sciences in the study of human behavior. Here, Hinde explores the roots of morality, its evolution in various cultural contexts, and the ethical conflicts that arise in different spheres of modern life. His penetrating analysis of morality in relation to war and peace suggests ways to move toward the abolition of war. This is a book of fundamental importance to scholars and for an educated public that badly needs wisdom in this field. David A. Hamburg, President Emeritus, Carnegie Corporation of New York