Catastrophe Ethics

How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices

By: Travis Rieder

Narrated by: Travis Rieder

How to live a morally decent life in the midst of today's constant, complex choices

In a world of often confusing and terrifying global problems, how should we make choices in our everyday lives? Does anything on the individual level really make a difference? In Catastrophe Ethics, Travis Rieder tackles the moral philosophy puzzles that bedevil us. He explores vital ethical concepts from history and today and offers new ways to think about the “right” thing to do when the challenges we face are larger and more complex than ever before.

Alongside a lively tour of traditional moral reasoning from thinkers like Plato, Mill, and Kant, Rieder posits new questions and exercises about the unique conundrums we now face, issues that can seem to transcend old-fashioned philosophical ideals. Should you drink water from a plastic bottle or not? Drive an electric car? When you learn about the horrors of factory farming, should you stop eating meat or other animal products? Do small commitments matter, or are we being manipulated into acting certain ways by corporations and media? These kinds of puzzles, Rieder explains, are everywhere now. And the tools most of us unthinkingly rely on to “do the right thing” are no longer enough. Principles like “do no harm” and “respect others” don’t provide guidance in cases where our individual actions don’t, by themselves, have any effect on others at all. We need new principles, with new justifications, in order to navigate this new world.

In the face of consequential and complex crises, Rieder shares exactly how we can live a morally decent life. It’s time to build our own catastrophe ethics.

©2024 Travis Rieder (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"An informed, careful investigation of the connection between individual choices and large, complex problems.”—Kirkus (STARRED REVIEW)

“Thought provoking...an excellent resource for the environmentally conscious weighing their life’s choices"—Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"Smart, splendid, and brave. A crash course in ethics from an expert philosopher. This book gave me hope for the future and taught me that living a moral life is having the courage to parse the nuanced in-between. A must read for anyone who cares about doing good in the world."—Anna Lembke, New York Times bestselling author of Dopamine Nation

“Urgent, accessible, and a pleasure to read. The topic could hardly be more serious, but Rieder serves up his philosophy as a readable mix of erudition, self-reflection, anecdote and wit.” —Dr. Elizabeth Cripps, author of What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care and Parenting on Earth

"If you want to be hopeful about whether an individual can act morally in a world where individuals don't seem to make much of a difference, this is the book for you.” —Barry Lam, host of Slate's Hi-Phi Nation and professor of philosophy

Interesting, but ultimately useless.

The author perfectly outlines many significant problems we're facing today, however, he offers less than clear guidance in how to deal with them. His solution amounts to "do what you feel you can do." Great, but this leaves the door open for many of us skirt our responsibility to the planet and to society. Humans are masters at justifying our actions. We can always find reasons for inaction or minimal action. This becomes most obvious when the author relays all the perfectly viable reasons for not procreating, but then admits to producing a child because his wife wanted to. He offers justification for this decision, but his arguments seem weak and hypocritical in the face of all the reasons he lays out for not having children. Overall this book encapsulates everything that is wrong with philosophy in general. Philosophers are great at identifying problems, presenting interesting questions, and clarifying language and terms, but are ill-equipped to offer any real solutions.

clear presentation of current thought in moral reasoning processes

This book was a really valuable read for me. As a non-philosopher struggling to find a clear and complete non-religious foundation to guide my moral actions in a very complex and interconnected world, this book provided a sorely needed up-to-date picture of the state of key aspects of academic moral philosophy, important examples of the moral reasoning process, and general advice on how to prioritize actions and simplify the process for actual application in my life.

Outstanding

As a former philosophy major who is now in a very practical field, I found this extremely compelling, in what feels like an increasingly complicated moral time. The reading is excellent.