Article July 13, 1998 Issue

Return to civility

An interview with Yale law professor Stephen Carter

By Kim Shippey

In Recent Years, Yale law professor Stephen L. Carter has become especially well known for his books The Culture of Disbelief (1993) and Integrity (1996), which was the first in a series exploring elements of good character he feels we should all strive for.

Now comes Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy (Basic Books). Over breakfast in Boston one morning recently, Professor Carter talked with our News Editor, Kim Shippey, about some of the issues raised in his new book.

"I began the series with integrity," he explained, "because it's a virtue without which the others have no meaning. Integrity helps us understand what is right and do it, even when there is cost. Civility is next, because having developed integrity as a tool for creating our own moral selves, we must next develop tools for interacting with others.

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