Book excerpt: A Practical Companion to Ethics, Third Edition, is a concise and accessible introduction to the basic attitudes and skills that make ethics work, like thinking for oneself, creative and integrative problem-solving, and keeping an open mind. This unique volume illuminates the broad kinds of practical intelligence required in moral judgment, complementing the narrower theoretical considerations that often dominate ethics courses. It offers practical instruction in problem-solving by demonstrating how to frame an ethical problem and deal effectively with ethical disagreements. The book also presents ethics as an ongoing learning experience, helping students to deal with both the complexities of their individual lives and with the larger issues that exist in the world around them. The third edition retains the most popular features of the previous edition, including challenging and relevant end-of-chapter exercises; brief text boxes that define key terms and review core strategies; and short dialogues that illustrate ethical dilemmas. The optimistic tone and brisk pace of the narrative provide an entertaining and intelligent guide to "everyday" morality. The third edition includes a more extensive treatment of ethics and religion (Chapter 2), which provides the framework for a moral dialogue that reaches across sectarian divides. It also contains a revised final chapter on the continuously unfolding nature of ethical understanding and an expanded appendix that gives detailed advice on writing various types of ethics papers. Ideal for introductory courses in ethics and applied ethics, A Practical Companion to Ethics, Third Edition, can also be used in any course related to critical thinking.