Charles Goodman

To many Westerners, the most appealing teachings of the Buddhist tradition pertain to ethics. Many readers have drawn inspiration from Buddhism's emphasis on compassion, nonviolence, and tolerance, its concern for animals, and its models of virtue and self-cultivation. There has been, however, controversy and confusion about which Western ethical theories resemble Buddhist views and in what respects. In this book, Charles Goodman illuminates the relations between Buddhist concepts and Western ethical theories. Every version of Buddhist ethics, says Goodman, takes the welfare of sentient beings to be the only source of moral obligations. Buddhist ethics can thus be said to be based on compassion in the sense of a motivation to pursue the welfare of others. On this interpretation, the fundamental basis of the various forms of Buddhist ethics is the same as that of the welfarist members of the family of ethical theories that analytic philosophers call 'consequentialism.' Goodman uses this hypothesis to illuminate a variety of questions. He examines the three types of compassion practiced in Buddhism and argues for their implications for important issues in applied ethics, especially the justification of punishment and the question of equality.… (altro)

A collection of 10 stories from the pre-escalation stage in Vietnam, mostly involving Green Berets. The stories cover a variety, including the defense of Ashau, a captain who called in a napalm strike on his own position, and an air rescue of a pilot forced down at an outpost under fire. Especially interesting is a look at the PsyOps program and a translated diary of a VC officer. The stories are reprinted from Men, For Men Only, Male, and Stag, known in the trade as "the sweats." The magazines targeted a WWII-era readership and disappeared as they aged and under pressure from the breakthrough by Hustler. Among those who cut their teeth with the sweats was Mario Puzo, who broke out with Godfather. The sweats featured exploitation with gritty war stories, detective stories, cheesecake, and exposes.… (altro)