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powerful." If he knows the origin of "national wealth," or precisely how it's being "redistributed," he doesn't tell us. We get the distinct impression that he thinks the "national wealth" should be "redistributed" in the other direction. Lickona doesn't tell us when and why it is virtuous to take from A and give to B, and when it is unjust. In a work ostensibly concerned with "character" and "virtue," Lickona spends a lot of time talking about economics and politics, and precious little on why and how these things are wrong, and what virtues might be employed to correct things.
Speaking of virtue, I have two confessions to make. First, because my own graduate work concentrated on character, I approach books like this one with great ambivalence, a pairing of hope and skepticism. Skepticism, because so much nonsense is written on this subject; hope, because amid all the dross, one occasionally finds a gem. I'm eager to cheer anything that might actually promote character and virtue. For example, I cannot too highly praise "Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong." And though it's advice is timeless, I'm always hoping for another, newer work to supplement it.
Second, I have not read the entire book that is the subject of this review. Charles Van Doren and Mortimer Adler wrote a classic entitled, "How to Read a Book." At one time, it was required reading for every college freshman, and rightly so. In it, Van Doren and Adler describe a technique they call "pre-reading," during which the reader determines the value of the book. They instructed readers to not spend any less time reading a book than it was worth, nor any more. I've found that advice invaluable through the years. Since it became evident in the first thirty pages that Lickona didn't take his own virtues seriously enough to actually recommend them as remedies for the serious lack of character he describes, I decided I didn't need to, either. I guess character didn't matter so much, after all.
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