Christian B. Miller, The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (OUP, 2017)
Two conversations about character and choice shaped the reading of this short and illuminating exploration of the nature of character. The first, with a High Court judge with long experience of working with families and children explored the nature of restorative justice in the light of our understanding of human nature. The judge argued that she had rarely experienced an individual who was irredeemably evil and beyond rehabilitation. A good deal of human ‘evil’ could be regarded as having their roots in external social and communal factors often beyond an individual’s control. This view informed by years of experience, including some disturbing transgressions of human decency and the law, has often challenged my view of human nature and evil as expressed through actions which destroy, diminish and dehumanise. The second conversation over a lunch table in August 2019 at the height of the U.K.’s political disagreements over Brexit turned a group of civilised and educated individuals into ill-tempered factions focused on the leave or remain arguments. Here were people that I respected and loved expressing a number of arguments which seemed out of character with their temperate and well-informed lives. Such conversations are disturbing as we consider ourselves to be reasoned people who are good and virtuous. Though this interpretation of character and rationality is limited by a particular worldview and associated values and beliefs.
Into these conversations Miller offers an exploration of character. The book is divided into three sections: “What is Character and Why is it Important?”, “What Does Our Character Actually Look like Today?”, and “What Can We Do to Improve Our Characters?” There is an insightful discussion of character, virtue, and vice. Miller argues that it is hard to be a virtuous person and the reasons for our inability to be virtuous. The book aspires to help us to think about we and others might go about becoming more virtuous.
Chapter Two explores how others have answered the question- why should we be good people? We may be inspired by such an example and wish to follow their example. At some level we know (perhaps) that good character makes the world a better place. Into this mix we may believe that this is how God wishes for us to live? If it follows that being good is good for us Miller introduces the reader to research that connects gratitude, hope, and honesty with increased life satisfaction, achievement, and professional success.
Chapters Three, Four, Five and Six (Helping, Harming, Lying, and Cheating) open up the moral psychology of virtues and vices. Grounded in research and current events we note Millers core argument that we are neither virtuous nor vicious, rather we sit a middle space between virtue and vice.
The remainder of the book (What Can we do to improve our Characters?) offers strategies on improving our character. These include intentional awareness of how we understand and exercise our role to shape for good the situations we find ourselves. We are asked to look at moral role models and to how Divine assistance might improve our characters.
This is altogether an excellent book which certainly deserves to find its way onto the reading lists of students. It is a model of clarity and accessibility. Miller knows how to form an argument and develop it based on a range of evidence. There is realism shot through the chapters as Miller understands and articulates the reality of evil and human boundedness which takes form in the whole range of human inconsistencies. Perhaps the mark of a good book is the way in which it enables us to be clear about what questions remain for us to struggle with if we want to understand how human beings behave and indeed have an awareness of the inconsistencies present in our own firmly held views. In ethical terms we certainly need to explore how best to create structures which encourage good behaviour. The power and agency of culture to shape and determine our characters should never be underestimated. Theological ethics in this respect should always be done within an inter-disciplinary framework that can hold the behavioural, the moral and the organisational.
Miller is quite right to encourage the reader to explore how best good action for the right reason can be virtuous, flourishing and life-giving. Miller manages the interrelationship between philosophical thesis and an empirical discourse with skill and care.
What is shown in these chapters is that we need some space to be reflective about the nature of character and the ways in which we behave individually and corporately. We certainly shall need an opportunity to explore the messiness of human life and how all of us respond badly in both thought and talk. Above all we need to nurture community where we can explore our failures of both judgement and action. Far too many of us do not arrange our minds with sufficient imagination and compassion taking refuge in self-interest, short-term gain and the limitations of the local. Miller argues for a wider horizon, a readiness to encounter the unexpected and above all the necessity to live within virtuous reality of truth which can shape our character. Self examination and the nurturing of a more holistic view of the world are challenges offered to us if we wish to live the good life.
How all of this relates to justice and punishment, country and continents remains to be seen. Miller however provides a map or our journey into this territory.
First published 2020