Who owns your promise? Can you ever break your word? Can a promise be based on a lie?
This is the second book in the "Ethics Morals Laws" series A. The books of the series are discussions' initiators consisting of exercises, quotes, and fairy tales. Each exercise poses a question about a conflict in a simple everyday situation. The child is asked to make a moral judgment on the conflict and explain his or her position.
This is an entertaining and educational series of children's books on ethical, moral, and legal issues. This series develops and stimulates child's critical thinking in a controlled environment.
Moral values shouldn't be hammered into children's brains. Instead, children should be allowed and encouraged to question those values from the earliest age.
These books will extend and enhance school's teaching because the modern educational system normally does not encourage independent thinking and shies away from questioning ethical, moral, and legal issues.
Critical thinking is the most important tool a child must have to develop to his or her full potential, to successfully compete with others, and to leave a significant impact in the world. Critical thinking is crucial in developing strong ethical and moral values, and in defending them against the most skillful attackers on child's life's path.
The central concept in this series is Truth. Normally Truth is not discussed in any educational setting beyond the most trivial dogmas: "Don't lie!" But Truth is probably the most charged ethical and emotional subject. People's careers and personal relationship have been destroyed since ancient times with one sentence that everybody on Earth has been shocked to hear one time or another in their life: "You lied to me!"
Truth is not just one of the most important subjects, but it's also a method and a framework. To successfully study any other subject and to be able to distinguish between truth and the lies, the child must develop his or her reverence for inner truthfulness. The child should be encouraged and trained to approach any subject not by trying to figure out what is expected of him or her to say, but by trying to figure out the truth.
Michael Faraday, one of the best physicist of all time, once explained most of the contemporary physics by writing a book on the subject of a candle. Just a candle! Why? He wrote: "There is not a law under which any part of this universe is governed which does not come into play and is touched upon in these phenomena. There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle." In this series, Truth plays the role of Faraday's candle as a gateway to studying all other ethical, moral, and legal issues.
Truthfulness is the most important characteristic of an individual. It is also the most important characteristic of society.
We live at a time when political correctness takes over. People are afraid to speak truthfully. Politicians keep breaking their promises and we keep electing them. The truth is under attack. People are viciously attacked personally and sometimes physically if they try to have an honest discussion of ethical, moral, or legal issues. People are called names, and have their character and reputation destroyed just for asking questions.
Truth is like blood in society. Telling the truth is like pumping the blood and in healthy societies that should not be prevented.
This series is a small step to encourage free truthful discussions. No topic in normal, healthy societies should be off limit. Truthful discussion of ethical, moral, and legal issues with your children is the best gift you can give them.
Ages 4-12.
About the Author: Zak Maymin is a Ph.D. in mathematics who uses his mathematical training to develop a logical first-principles approach to ethics, moral, and legal issues and to present it through the Socratic method.
Before he turned to writing children books, he was a professor, portfolio manager, and a chess player. He is the author of Publicani.
He has many children and grandchildren and lives with his wife in Connecticut.
