Ethics Book for Amador by Fernando Savater

Ethics for Amador is a book by the Basque writer and philosopher Fernando Savater published in 1991.

It is a colloquial philosophical essay that the author himself dedicates to his 15-year-old son Amador. Although it is a book intended for teenagers, it is also recommended to adult readers for its countless teachings.

Ethics for Amador could be summarized in "The art of living or knowing how to live". It is important to have ethics in the way we live so that our decisions have the best results for humanity that we want, taking into account the contradictions that human life gives us because we have what other animals do not have: Liberty.

But what is freedom? Are we free to decide what happens to us? How important is ethics?

Let us understand, below, the most relevant questions raised in this text.

Summary by chapters

The book consists of 9 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue, in which the author tries to reflect on some ethical questions of society, from what is freedom to what we must do to lead a full life.

Chapter 1: What's Ethics About

This chapter begins with the author's reflection regarding knowledge. He points out that there are certain branches of knowledge that we can decide to learn or not and that it is possible to live ignoring them. However, he alludes to the fact that there is a knowledge that is essential, this is knowing what is convenient for us (the good) or not (the bad). Likewise, he points out that man, unlike animals, has freedom of choice when responding to what happens to him.

Chapter 2: Orders, Customs and Whims

Here the difference between orders, customs and whims is exposed. The author affirms, throughout this chapter, that we cannot choose what happens to us but how to deal with it. While the orders and customs are imposed. Whims arise from within us.

Chapter 3: Do What You Want

In this part of the book, Savater talks about freedom, which is the subject of ethics. Freedom does not consist only in making decisions, but also what is being said must be taken into account. Here he exposes that an order or a custom does not have to be good, nor does it have to be a whim. To determine if something is good or bad, reasoning is necessary.

Chapter 4: Live the Good Life

This chapter starts with the question: what should I do? The author affirms that we should look for this answer in ourselves, in ourselves, without having to ask anyone. He also discusses the meaning of the statement "Do what you want."

Chapter 5: Wake Up Baby!

Here, Fernando Savater reflects on material things and the importance we attach to them. Likewise, it investigates the complexity of living and the need to treat people as such and not as objects.

Chapter 6: Jiminy Cricket Appears

Chapter six begins by explaining the etymology of the word "moron." Well, the author affirms that we should not be imbeciles, but he does not pay attention to the derogatory meaning of the term. To do this, he establishes different categories of the idiot. According to the author, we must be aware of and responsible for our actions.

Chapter 7: Put Yourself In Her Place

In this part, Savater explains that one of the things that ethics is in charge of is "how to live life", also how is the coexistence between humans. The author affirms that coexistence between people is not simple, but the key is knowing how to understand and treat others. In other words, empathy is essential.

Chapter 8: So Much Taste

This chapter discusses the subject of innate pleasures in the human species and how they are generally identified with the word immorality. Also, these are often a taboo subject in society.

Chapter 9: General Elections

The book concludes with a reflection that differentiates ethics and politics. While ethics focuses on individuals in particular, politics encompasses society as a whole.

Analysis of the book Ethics for Amador

One of the characteristics that attracts the attention of this book is its epistolary nature. Also, as the author indicates, it is not a manual, but a letter to an adolescent that presents a direct and pleasant language.

Each chapter ends with some citations from authors on the subject discussed and is suggested as a bibliographic reference. Some of them are: Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rebelais, Jean Paul Sartre, Ethics by Baruch Spinoza, Utopia from Thomas More, Homer, The art of Loving by Erich Fromm etc.

Fernando Savater clarifies that he does not intend to teach to live with this book. To do this, the author maintains that living is not an exact science and that life has a personal measure. Here are some highlights from the book.

You can also read: Erich Fromm's Art of Loving

About freedom

What distinguishes us from other animals? Among other things, the freedom to decide. As human beings we not only have one way to go, but more. We are not automatic because, according to the author, "we have the option to decide" yes "or" no ", I want to or I don't want to".

Thus the author makes two specifications on freedom:

1. We cannot choose what happens to us: We cannot do everything we want, just as we are not free to choose what happens to us, but we are free to respond or act in a certain way to what happens to us.
2. Freedom does not mean omnipresence: freedom is not getting everything you want (omnipotence) but, rather, the will to choose as much as possible.

Ultimately, we have the freedom to invent and to choose, but also to make mistakes. Because being wrong is human and part of the process to "know oneself", as the famous Greek aphorism about wisdom already said.

Read more about the aphorism: Know yourself.

Orders, customs and whims

Savater invites us to differentiate the 3 basic reasons that make us act: orders, customs and whims.

The orders they are motives moved by a punishment or reward. The traditions, are done without thinking and almost automatically and, finally, the whims they come with the absence of a motive, simply because it is desired.

If we look at this question, we see that freedom of choice can be relative, since these reasons show that some of our choices can have an impact on our environment. Likewise, the choices that others make over us also have an impact on our happiness or unhappiness.

For example, if in a family the custom is for all its members to study philosophy and one of them does so out of habit and has no choice, will they be happy?

Or, on the contrary, if he decides to study what he really likes without attending to the orders of his family, will this fact not outrage his ancestors?

It is clear that each decision we make will have an impact, the key is to reflect on what is most convenient.

The author also makes a reference here from the book Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, to allude to our power of choice:

Both virtue and vice are in our power. Indeed, whenever it is in our power to do, it is also in our power to do not, and whenever it is in our power to do not, it is in our power to do so, so if it is in our power. To be able to act when it is beautiful, it will also be so when it is shameful, and if it is in our power not to act when it is beautiful, it will also be so not to act when it is shameful.

You may also like: Aristotle ethics

The value of decisions

"Why am I doing this?" The author affirms that behind this question, which we should all ask ourselves, there are an infinity of other questions such as "why do I obey what they tell me?"

Should we live based on the choices others make for us? Is it a good action because it is an order or a custom?

Savater proposes to deliberate on the decisions that we make or that take for us to see if, indeed, they are in our best interest or not.

In this sense, according to the author, ethics teaches us to “reflect on why we consider behaviors as valid”.

We can do whatever we want?

The author attends to the meaning behind the phrase "Do what you want." Often, to make decisions we put ourselves at the service of what others say or we let others make the decision for us, but is it really what we want?

The best way is, in this case, to ask ourselves what we want, since it is the best way to make use of our freedom. We must decide what to do with our life because:

It's not about spending time, but about living it well

However, to seek the "good life" we must not forget that human beings need a society and culture to develop, also from the relationships it establishes with the rest of the members of the society.

That is why the search for the "good life" or individual "happiness" must also be that of the rest. Well, according to the author, "for others to make me human, I have to make them human."

Selfishness and empathy

The human being is sometimes selfish and thinks of himself without caring about the rest, even acting for his own benefit even if it is a nuisance to others.

However, we are conscientious and responsible beings, and our “wrong” acts often appear in the form of remorse or as the author indicates, our "Jiminy Cricket" emerges and does not leave us quiet.

Ultimately, we have the freedom to make decisions but we must be responsible because our actions can harm others.

And how do I know if a decision is not going to hurt? In this case, it is best to "put yourself in the place of the other", that is, to be empathetic.

Ethics and politics

It is necessary that there are a series of tolerance guidelines so that there is cultural diversity and not crimes imposed by a government or an authority.

In this sense, politics is essential to establish a civic order and, although some politicians have a bad reputation and lack ethics, this is also necessary.

Here, the author establishes the common goal of ethics and politics, which is to "live well." However, while ethics focuses on analyzing and deciding on the most appropriate to live the best possible life, politics tries to find the best to live in society.

Fernando Savater

Fernando Savater is a writer and professor in Philosophy who was born in San Sebastián (Spain) in 1947.

His extensive work includes more than 50 writings that cover the political, philosophical, literary, narrative and theater fields. Likewise, he has also produced articles in the Spanish and international press. Among the most relevant books of the author are:

• The hero's task (1982)
• The content of happiness (1986)
• Ethics for Amador (1991)
• Policy for Amador (1992)
• The garden of doubts (1993)
• The brotherhood of good luck (2008)
• The princess's guests (2012)