Ethics of Compassion places central themes from Buddhist (primarily) and Christian moral teachings within the conceptual framework of Western normative ethics. What results is a viable alternative ethical theory to those offered by utilitarians, Kantian formalists, proponents of the natural law tradition, and advocates of virtue ethics. Ethics of Compassion bridges Eastern and Western cultures, philosophical ethics and religious moral discourse, and notions of acting rightly and of being virtuous.

Epidemiologists, on the basis of studies carried out chiefly in Africa, have suggested that depletion of fiber in the modern Western diet affects health adversely. D. P. Burkitt, who has been in the forefront of this investigation, has included among the "diseases of civilization" hiatus hernia, ischemic heart disease, cholelithiasis, polyps of the colon, and cancer of the colon. All of these conditions appear to have the same geographic distribution. In these areas, the diets were characterized by increased amounts of fat and meat protein, and by an apparent deficit of fiber. It is...