{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02321083172147002, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0029013539651837525, 'mean_word_length': 5.213213213213213, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Book Review: The Moral Choice

of an action-guide that claims superiority, and that is considered legitimate, in that it is justifiable and other-regarding" (29). A religious statement is "a statement expressing acceptance of a set of beliefs, attitudes, and practices based on a notion of sacred authority that functions to resolve the ontological problem of interpretability" (56). The reasons for choosing these critical definitions are well organized and clearly presented, with opposing points of view used critically. The chapter on religion is especially valuable, because it deals with sacred authority and how action-guides can be derived from religious statements. A chapter on laws is included because of the importance of defining the concept but also to provide a means of separating law from ethics. This chapter, too, is most helpful in specifying the ways in which a law ("a directive taken as authoritative in that it is officially both legitimate and enforceable"[80]) is authorized, justified, and related to religion and ethics. The chapter on justification of ethical statements is interesting and cogent. The format, addressing both teleological and deontological issues, provides a methodology very useful for justification. Many examples are provided and the discussion is closely and cogently related to the preceding chapters. It is a well-integrated summary of the process at work in the methodology of the book, as well as an excellent presentation of a fruitful research tool. The final chapters are applications of the definitions and method to the three cases previously mentioned. In addition to demonstrating how the method works, the authors also show how points of contact between different systems can be discerned and serve as points of departure for future research. This volume presents a practical method for fruitful comparative research in religious social ethics. Disagreements about specific definite issues, while justified in some instances, need not detract from the significance of the method and its research potential.