Synopses & Reviews
Are all moral truths relative or do certain moral truths hold for all cultures and people? In
Moral Relativism: A Reader, this and related questions are addressed by twenty-one contemporary moral philosophers and thinkers. This engaging and nontechnical anthology, the only up-to-date collection devoted solely to the topic of moral relativism, is accessible to a wide range of readers including undergraduate students from various disciplines. The selections are organized under six main topics: (1) General Issues; (2) Relativism and Moral Diversity; (3) On the Coherence of Moral Relativism; (4) Defense and Criticism; (5) Relativism, Realism, and Rationality; and (6) Case Study on Relativism. Contributors include Ruth Benedict, Richard Brandt, Thomas L. Carson, Philippa Foot, Gordon Graham, Gilbert Harman, Loretta M. Kopelman, David Lyons, J. L. Mackie, Michele Moody-Adams, Paul K. Moser, Thomas Nagel, Martha Nussbaum, Karl Popper, Betsy Postow, James Rachels, W. D. Ross, T. M. Scanlon, William Graham Sumner, and Carl Wellman. The volume concludes with a case study on female circumcision/genital mutilation that vividly brings into focus the practical aspects and implications of moral relativism.
An ideal primary text for courses in moral relativism, Moral Relativism: A Reader can also be used as a supplementary text for introductory courses in ethics and for courses in various disciplines--anthropology, sociology, theology, political science, and cultural studies--that discuss relativism. The volume's pedagogical and research value is enhanced by a topical bibliography on moral relativism and a substantial general introduction that includes explanatory summaries of the twenty selections.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE: GENERAL ISSUES
1. Ethical Relativism, Richard Brandt
2. Facts, Standards, and Truth: A Further Criticism of Relativism, Karl Popper
3. The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels
PART TWO: RELATIVISM AND MORAL DIVERSITY
4. Folkways, William Graham Sumner
5. Anthropology and the Abnormal, Ruth Benedict
6. The Meaning of Right, W.D. Ross
7. The Empirical Underdetermination of Descriptive Cultural Relativism, Michele Moody-Adams
8. The Ethical Implications of Cultural Relativity, Carl Wellman
PART THREE: ON THE COHERENCE OF MORAL RELATIVISM
9. Dishonest Relativism, Betsy Postow
10. Ethical Relativism and the Problem of Incoherence, David Lyons
11. Fear of Relativism, T.M. Scanlon
PART FOUR: DEFENSE AND CRITICISM
12. Is There a Single True Morality?, Gilbert Harman
13. Moral Relativism, Philippa Foot
14. Non-Relative Virtues, Martha Nussbaum
15. Tolerance, Pluralism, and Relativism, Gordon Graham
16. Ethics, Thomas Nagel
PART FIVE: RELATIVISM, REALISM, AND RATIONALITY
17. The Subjectivity of Values, J.L. Mackie
18. Relativism Refuted?, Richard Brandt
19. Relativism and Normative Nonrealism: Basing Morality on Rationality, Thomas L. Carson and Paul K. Moser
PART SIX: CASE STUDY ON RELATIVISM
20. Female Circumcision/Genital Mutilation and Ethical Relativism, Loretta M. Kopelman
Bibliography
Index