242 BOOKS the agent. Hence, the Thomistic tradition makes an important distinction. The principle of the lesser evil is not something available in all cases, for there are some situations in which it is not perm itted to use the principle of the lesser evil, namely, if that evil is an intrinsic evil and one that cannot ever be outside the intention of the agent. In bringing up this important development of the Thomistic tradition, Dougherty alludes to a decisive point within moral theory that severely restricts the morally allowable options and thus that may require the acceptance of some kinds of suffering rather than permitting oneself to do some evil by the use of the principle of the lesser evil as a justification. As Socrates long ago noted, it is better to suffer such an evil than deliberately to commit one. Dougherty’s book provides a valuable service for moral philosophy and for the history of philosophy in its careful treatment of this complex topic. Fordham University Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics. By Steven J. Jensen. W ashington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2013. Pp. 205. $24.95 paper. A sign of com petence is the ability to write a book in one’s discipline for beginners. Jensen’s book attests to his competence as a professional educator in philosophy. His book is both introductory and substantive. As the book’s subtitle indicates, Jensen emulates Thomas Aquinas, whose Summa theologiae is a monument to texts for beginners. In light of this emulation, it is fitting that Jensen relies chiefly on the Summa theologiae as the source of his explanation of Thomistic ethics. This explanation takes place over fourteen chapters, including the Introduction. Each chapter is concisely summarized in the Introduction. These chapters cover a variety of subjects, ranging from criticizing fads in ethics, such as values clarification and situation ethics, to answering the question “Why be moral?” and from criticizing utilitarianism and K antianism to elucidating the intellectual and m oral virtues. In his treatm ent o f virtue, Jensen explores the important relationship between reason, will, and emotions. How these three principles are foundational to ethics unfolds in five central chapters: Reason and the Em otions (chap. 3), Conscience and Choice (chap. 4), Loving and Choosing (chap. 5), Doing Right and Desiring Right (chap. 6), Virtue and the Emotions (chap. 7). Throughout this discussion Jensen never departs from a Thomistic interpretation: “Each chapter might be viewed as showing what Aquinas would say about these topics” (p. 6). I dare say that m ost of the “beginners” who will use this book are undergraduate students in ethics courses. Their instructors will find helpful the book’s practice of introducing each chapter by quoting an im portant moral philosopher in the classical tradition. Sometimes the chapter begins with m ore than one quotation, each from a different thinker. These quotations are often from the writings of Aquinas, but Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Boethius are also quoted. These quotations can supply lessons relevant to the chapter for which they serve as frontispiece. Should the instructor employ these quotations adroitly, they could be the oc- casion for productive classroom conversation. They are also valuable in that they disclose first principles that ethicists in ancient and medieval times took to be axiomatic. W hile Jensen relies on a thinker who lived in the thirteenth century, he realizes that students expect an ethics book that addresses today’s moral concerns. Jensen, accordingly, employs “the ideas of Aquinas to address some common views associated with ethics today” (p. 6). International Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 54, No. 2, Issue 214 (June 2014) pp. 242-244 doi: 10.5840/ipq201454213