Moral Soundings : Readings On The Crisis Of Values In Contemporary Life

Preface

Introduction

I Morals And Money

The Spirit Of Capitalism 2000
David Bosworth
Interventions: Autonomy, Humility, And Self Direction

Markets And The Social Structure Of Morality
David Marsland
Interventions: Autonomy As Self-Sufficiency

Two Cheers For Capitalism
James B. Twitchell
Interventions: Does Capitalism Subvert Or Support Autonomy?

II The Promise Of Equality

Nihilism In Black America
Cornel West
Life, Liberty, Property
Richard Pipes
Still The Land Of Opportunity?
Isabel V. Sawhill
Interventions: Are We Equal In Our Capacity To Make Our Own Decisions?

The Moral Demands Of Global Justice
Thomas Pogge
Interventions: Is Personal Autonomy Compatible With Justice For All?

III Where Love Meets Obligation: The Family In Turmoil

Philosophical Reflections On The Family At Millennium’s Beginning
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Why Marriage?

Reconcilable Differences: What It Would Take For Marriage And Feminism To Say “I Do.”
Jane Smiley
Interventions: Negotiating Dependence And Independence

IV Coping With Hi-Tech Cowboys

The Age Of Genetic Technology Arrives
Leon Kass
What’s At The Bottom Of The Slippery Slope: A Post-Human Future?
Jerry Weinberger
Interventions: Can We Control Technology?

V In God We Trust-or Do We?

Can We Be Good Without Hell?
Jerry L. Walls
Everything I Like About Religion I Learned From An Athiest
Barbara Ehrenreich
Interventions: Is Obedience To God Compatible With Making My Own Decisions?

VI Global Conflict

The Future Of “History”: Francis Fukuyama Vs. Samuel P. Huntington
Stanley Kurtz
The Clash Of Ignorance
Edward W. Said
Interventions: Hybrid Identities And Autonomy

VII It’s All Good: Life Among The Relativists

Are We Living In A Moral Stone Age?
Christina Hoff Sommers
Of Cave Dwellers And Spirits: The Trouble With Moral Absolutes
Dwight Furrow
Interventions: Autonomy And Objectivity

VIII Renewals

Ecological Humanism: A Moral Image For Our Emotive Culture
Steven Fesmire
American National Pride
Richard Rorty
Society In The Postmodern Era
Albert Borgmann
Interventions: How To Reconcile Moral Freedom And Moral Responsiveness

Additional Info
Moral Soundings takes a fresh new approach to introducing students and general readers to contemporary ethics. Rather than surveying the standard fare in a typical anthology format, Furrow collects diversified essays around a structured theme: does Western culture face a moral crisis of values? Prominent voices in the humanities and social sciences provide a range of perspectives on a concentrated set of ethical questions dealing with such topics as family values, the morality of capitalism, the benefits and dangers of new technologies, global conflict, and the role of religion.

Unlike point/counterpoint books that often oversimplify the complexity of ethical questions, the readings in Moral Soundings provoke critical engagement and help students to recognize and emulate the logical development of arguments-all in engaging and easily accessible language. Readings are supplemented with helpful chapter introductions, study questions, and strategically placed editorial commentary to encourage further discussion and reflection. These features make Moral Soundings an ideal primary or supplementary text for undergraduate courses in ethics, contemporary moral issues, and social and political philosophy