We may have more ideas about how to make life better than ever before in history. However, we’ve possibly never been so bogged down in using those ideas to solve our problems.
How do we decide? Can there be more than one “right” solution to a problem? How do we all get along? Rick Kyte of La Crosse will be at T.B. Scott Library to take on these questions and more in “Ideas Unite, Issues Divide” on Sunday, March 23 at 1 p.m. in the library’s Community Room.
Kyte has written two books, “An Ethical Life: A Practical Guide to Ethical Reasoning,” and “Ideas Unite, Issues Divide,” a collection of columns he’s written over four years for the La Crosse Tribune. Both books will be available for sale and signing at his presentation.
Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership & Professor of Philosophy at Viterbo University in La Crosse.
The chapters in Ideas Unite, Issues Divide explore moral conflicts in light of their underlying ideas. His subjects are as diverse as education, ecology, drones, and boat building. Kyte asserts that, without taking sides, arguing about right, wrong, virtue, and misconduct is the essence of the good, well-lived life.
In The Ethical Life, Kyte explains so ordinary people can understand about how people use ethics in everyday life. He suggests that making an “ethical” decision means thinking about it in terms of four criteria: a solution’s consequences, whether it’s fair, how it affects the character and relationships of those involved, and how the solution is factual and legal. Kyte explains that, as people emphasize these criteria differently, they can come up with different, yet perfectly ethical solutions.
Ideas Unite, Issues Divide is part of the library’s Words Worth Hearing adult programming series. Refreshments will be provided by The Checkered Churn and First Street Coffee Station.
For more information about the library, call 536.7191 or check www.tbscottlibrary.org on the Internet.