How to Be Good

What makes an action right, and a life good? Character, duty, or results? Here are the founding statements of each answer, from China and Greece to Königsberg and London, and Nietzsche's attack on all of them.

1. 1
   AnalectsConfucius · 1.5 hrs · ▶ ListenEthics as character formed by practice, ritual and relationships.
2. 2
   Book IAristotle · from Nicomachean Ethics · 35 min · ▶ ListenHappiness as the goal of life, and virtue as the way there.
3. 3
   MenciusMencius · 3 hrs · ▶ ListenHuman nature is good: the four sprouts of morality.
4. 4
   Human Nature Is BadXunzi · from Xunzi · 15 min · ▶ ListenThe reply: human nature is bad, and goodness is made by effort.
5. 5
   Groundwork of the Metaphysics of MoralsImmanuel Kant · 2 hrs · ▶ ListenDuty and the categorical imperative: act only on rules you could will for everyone.
6. 6
   UtilitarianismJohn Stuart Mill · 2 hrs · ▶ ListenThe greatest happiness of the greatest number.
7. 7
   On the Genealogy of MoralityFriedrich Nietzsche · 4 hrs · ▶ ListenWhere our morality came from, and whether it is good for us.