The geography of morals
Subtitle: varieties of moral possibility
By: Owen Flanagan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 362
ISBN-13: 9780190212155
Subjects: Psychology and philosophy; Ethics
Description: "We live in multicultural, cosmopolitan worlds. These worlds are distinctive moral ecologies in which people enact and embody different lived philosophies and conceive of mind, morals, and the meaning of life differently from the typical WEIRD--Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic--person. This is not a predicament; it is an opportunity. Many think that cross cultural understanding is useful for developing a modus vivendi where people from different worlds are not at each other's throats and tolerate each other. Flanagan presses the much more exciting possibility that cross-cultural philosophy provides opportunities for exploring the varieties of moral possibility, learning from other traditions, and for self, social, and political improvement. There are ways of worldmaking in other living traditions--Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Amerindian, and African--that citizens in Western countries can benefit from. Cross-cultural learning is protection against what Alasdair MacIntyre refers to as being 'imprisoned by one's upbringing.' Flanagan takes up perennial topics of whether there is anything to the idea of a common human nature, psychobiological sources of human morality, the nature of the self, the role of moral excellence in a good human life, and whether and how empirical inquiry into morality can contribute to normative ethics. The Geography of Morals exemplifies how one can respectfully conceive of multiculturalism and global interaction as providing not only opportunities for business and commerce, but also opportunities for socio-moral and political improvement on all sides. This is a book that aims to change how normative ethics and moral psychology are done"--Provided by publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Variations. On being imprisoned by one's upbringing; title: Moral psychologies and moral ecologies; title: Bibliographical essay; title: First nature. Classical Chinese sprouts; title: Modern moral psychology; title: Beyond moral modularity; title: Destructive emotions; title: Bibliographic essay; title: Collisions. When values collide : pidgins, creoles, and smashdowns; title: Moral geographies of anger; title: WEIRD anger; title: For love's and justice's sake : the attachment, injustice, and catharsis defense; title: Bibliographical essay; title: Anthropologies. Self-variations : philosophical archaeologies; title: The content of character.