Reclaiming Virtue

Electronic book text

How we can develop the moral intelligence to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason

John Bradshaw is one of the bestselling self-help authors of our generation and a dominant figure in the fields of addiction/recovery and family systems. In RECLAIMING VIRTUE, his first new book in more than ten years, Bradshaw takes on a new challenge. He has written a landmark exploration of the life of virtue, how we can develop it in ourselves, and how we can teach it to our children.

RECLAIMING VIRTUE redefines what it means to live a moral life in today's world. Coming at a time of heightened debate about public and private morality, a time of greed and lack of caring, he says that the answer is not simply to return to traditional rules-based morality and an idealised past. Instead, he shows that each of us has what he calls an inborn moral intelligence, an inner guidance system, that can lead us - if we know how to cultivate it in ourselves and others.

Step by step, Bradshaw shows us how our deepest instincts for goodness can be developed in childhood and nurtured throughout adult life. The result is a compelling vision of good character and moral responsibility for the modern world.

Whether the topic is sex, discipline, marriage, the development of conscience or the true aims of education, Bradshaw once again provokes, enlightens and inspires readers everywhere.