Dr. Matt Deaton has hosted a comedy club, competitively boxed and kickboxed, and once survived an entire Christmas season without a single drop of eggnog. An online adjunct philosophy professor and ethics bowl enthusiast, he writes to enlighten, inspire and entertain. Now his guide to philosophical ethics, Ethics in a Nutshell, is available as an audiobook. Are you considering publishing your own book or looking to spice up your ethics course? In this Recently Published Book Spotlight, Dr. Deaton discusses self-publishing, the aims of his work, and Amazon reviews.
What advice do you have for others seeking to produce such a work?
In 2021, the biggest obstacle is self-doubt. Really, the traditional barriers are gone. It’s work, and there’s a learning curve. “How do I pick the right freelance editor?” “Whom can I trust to design a good cover?” “What about beta readers, proofing, and what’s ‘bleed’?” But there’s plenty of information online, and plenty of folks willing to assist. Last month I helped a friend of a friend release a book of poetry, something he’d been working on, slowly, for decades. Bob Boyd spent a lifetime helping the homeless, the abused, the downtrodden. Over the years he’d crafted and polished some beautiful wisdom. It would have been a shame if he’d taken it to his grave. Instead, for $9.99, anyone can enjoy his Provoking Compassion, including you.
Now, some need the validation of a traditional publisher, and others want to believe the old barriers still exist to shield themselves from the risk of criticism. But as someone who’s dared release five books and record three of them on audiobook, sharing your coolest and best ideas – after lots of editing, proofing, beta-reader feedback, more editing and proofing – is oh-so-worth-it.
If you have the interest and guts, google Kindle Direct Plus or Audible Creator Exchange. Procrastinate if you want. Beg Rowman and Littlefield to bless your ideas and gift them the profits if you prefer. But for my time and investment, it’s Notaed Press all the way, where “Notaed” is simply “Deaton” backwards (Oprah’s company is Harpo – thanks for the idea, Ope!). I’d rather have the autonomy, the satisfaction of cover-to-cover responsibility, and five dollars royalty per copy as opposed to five cents. You can prop up an industry that exploits scholars and students alike if you choose to. But in 2021, no organized, ambitious author has to.
What effect do you hope your work will have?
Well, according to my promo materials, I write to “enlighten, inspire and entertain.” Year of the Fighter: Lessons from my Midlife Crisis Adventure and The Best Public Speaking Book are different books for people with different goals. But at their core, they’re about empowerment, growth. With Ethics in a Nutshell: The Philosopher’s Approach to Morality in 100 Pages and the follow-up Abortion Ethics in a Nutshell (also on audiobook, which we’ll save for another interview), empowerment is still a theme. But rather than nudging the reader to pursue a dream or coaching them through stage fright (don’t simply survive on stage, decide to dominate), I’m helping them develop the confidence to align with whatever makes the most sense, not whatever happens to be convenient. As I say in the book, doing ethics takes courage. Not firefighter courage. But challenges to deeply held views – even self-challenges – can be scary. Being up front with our students about their understandable reservations is more effective, long-term, than trying to strong-arm them towards Kant.
I also see myself as a liaison between academic philosophers and normal humans (and if you’re reading this, you probably see yourself the same way). With ethics in particular, there are so many nuanced, well-reasoned arguments on everything from firearms to immigration to pandemic triage medical care that the average person has no idea about. Ethicists and political philosophers have so much to offer, but they’re usually writing for one another, not the public. I’m a translator helping Joe and Jane Citizen understand the best arguments philosophers have offered in plain language, so that they can spread them into the public sphere and elevate democratic deliberation.
And I’m a recruiter for the discipline. I imagine a college sophomore taking her first philosophy class, and try to help her appreciate and adopt the philosophical ideal: reasonable, collaborative, seeking truth, balance and peace. I try to show her a way better than the caustic, childish examples she’ll find on tv and social media. And I try to make her smile – help her fall in love with this stuff, live a richer life, and become part of the solution.
Why did you feel the need to write this work?
Whether at USC California or USC Carolina, new ethics students suffer the same confusions. “Isn’t this disrespectful to my religious faith?” “Isn’t it just a matter of personal taste?” “Isn’t that Chidi guy from The Good Place an ethicist?” Some come in overly deferential to the law or psycho-evolutionary explanations. Some have experimented with Nietzsche!
Ethics in a Nutshell kindly and quickly addresses all of this and more. It’s not a stand-alone, comprehensive text – hence, the “nutshell” in the title. It’s something you cover in the first couple of weeks. But with the right journal articles, Stanford Encyclopedia entries, anthology or subject-specific ethics text, it’s a fantastic way to ease into the semester. I’ve paired it with Michael Sandel’s Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, my Abortion Ethics in a Nutshell: A Pro-Both Tour of the Moral Arguments and journal articles on the death penalty, firearms and artificial intelligence, and new this semester, mask mandates and compulsory vaccines. I’m nervously excited as to how students will receive those arguments. Be on the lookout for lecture videos on them on my YouTube channel early October.
But the goal of the book/audiobook and the free support materials on the book’s website –YouTube lecture videos on each chapter, sample syllabi and reading schedules, sample exam or quiz questions, reflection/discussion/essay questions, a little public speaking and lecture video-making coaching – is to help ethics educators lead better discussions, read better papers, be better teachers. They’re my secondary target audience – the profs, TAs and teachers on the front lines, introducing the love of wisdom to the Twitter-distracted masses. To the extent I can make adopting the book super simple, and the benefits joyfully obvious, everyone wins. Who doesn’t want pre-made lecture videos by the author recorded in locations like Times Square, the White House and floating down a river? Who couldn’t use sample exam, essay and discussion questions? Who would turn away an accompanying audiobook read in the author’s avuncular voice? That’s the sort of book I’d assign. That’s the sort of book I’d read, or listen to.
What is your work about?
Everything we wish our students knew on day one, including what academic philosophy even is and how it’s done. It explains why moral relativism is untenable, with absurd implications. It clarifies why we can’t blindly defer to the law and why psychological propensity doesn’t equate to moral permissibility. It uses Singer’s drowning child and Jarvis Thomson’s violinist to teach argument by analogy, covers Rawlsian Reflective Equilibrium, Postow’s All-Things-Considered balancing act, and Socrates’s argument that living a good life not only benefits you, but those around you. It even introduces the four dominant ethical theories – Utilitarianism/Consequentialism, Kantianism/Deontology, Care Ethics and Virtue Ethics, as well as condensed arguments supporting them.
It teaches all of this, and more, without the usual jargon or pomposity, and with humility and humor. Again, target audience, intended usage. However, it’s not for everyone. Some prefer drier, denser ethics intros, even in the opening weeks. But for educators cultivating an inviting, candid classroom, there’s no other book, audiobook or teaching system like it. My marketing department told me to call the free resources on the book’s website a “teaching system” – too much? I’m kidding – Notaed Press doesn’t have a marketing department. That’s just me.
How have readers responded?
Very favorably. Check the book’s reviews on Amazon. 81-strong and growing, the vast majority 5-star. “Probably the best book I’ve read about ethics. Not only was it straight and to the point, but I appreciated the sprinkles of humor throughout. The author seems like exactly the kind of person who should be teaching ethics. He takes the topic seriously while not being a total stick in the mud.”
There is one 1-star review. Amazon’s algorithms, in their infinite artificial wisdom, often display it first (thanks, AI saboteurs!). But even my harshest critic seemed to get the point. “Deaton seems like the kind of guy you’d really like as a freshman professor or upper-level TA, and his ratings in this department are fantastic (you should look them up). He writes with humor, and flair, and passion and I’d love to have a drink with the man and discuss ethics and his book.” The one harsh review out of 80+ opens with that? I’ll take it.
Ok, so there’s also one 3-star review, which Amazon’s AI likes to display second (damn you, algorithms!). But everyone else seems very satisfied, and it’s great getting fan mail, making new connections with ethics-minded folks from all over. In June I got an email from a former Afghan living in San Francisco. In the book I use the Taliban’s oppression of women as a clear example of legality not generating morality (just because it might be illegal to educate women, this doesn’t mean it’s immoral). Basic stuff, but students often need a reminder that good law tracks morality, doesn’t determine it. The reader was worried I was suggesting Taliban culture equaled Afghan culture. But after a friendly exchange and highlighting the section where I clarify, “It’s doubtful the Taliban represent the views of the Afghan people,” we were all good. I even sent her a signed copy, and a copy of Abortion Ethics in a Nutshell. I hope you liked it, Shakiba!
In fact, if any ethics educators out there would like a desk copy of either book, just shoot a request to matt (at) mattdeaton.com from your institutional email. Let me know where you teach, how you’re considering using it, and which edition you’d prefer – paperback, Kindle or audiobook. And feel free to simply say hi – always glad to connect with fellow philosophers, especially those who take pride in their teaching.
Matt Deaton
Matt Deaton is an adjunct professor who's taught exclusively online since 2013. An Air Force veteran and AYSO soccer coach, he's authored five books including Ethics in a Nutshell: The Philosopher’s Approach to Morality in 100 Pages and The Best Public Speaking Book. Editor of the APA Blog's Syllabus Showcase series, find him blogging elsewhere online at EthicsBowl.org.
Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen is the APA Blog's Diversity and Inclusion Editor and Research Editor. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy in 2023 and currently works in strategic communications. Her philosophical interests include conceptual engineering, normative ethics, philosophy of technology, and how to live a good life.
