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Western philosophy since the Enlightenment has had little to say about everyday ethical problems, whereas modern anthropology has simply accepted culture as the source of people's ethical beliefs. In this engaging book, Samuel Fleischacker explores episodes of moral crisis from Hitler's Holocaust to Pol Pot's killing fields to Khomeini's death sentence on Salman Rushdie. As he integrates the perspectives of philosophy and anthropology, Fleischacker demonstrates that the concept of culture must now play a major role in ethics.Fleischacker addresses the dangers of seeking ethical understanding across cultures-that we may either impose our own values on others or abandon all norms to relativism. Drawing in particular on the Jewish tradition, he sees the unique and powerful stories that each culture tells as crucial to ethical practice, and suggests that neither tradition nor authority is antagonistic to freedom. For Fleischacker, every culture is an authoritative moral tradition, although all traditions are not equally successful in promoting the happiness and freedom of the people who inherit them. If we view different cultural traditions as aiming at the same ultimate goal, then we can realistically promote ethical dialogue across cultures, as well as dissent within them.Fleischacker pays particular attention to the paradox of our Western liberal heritage that claims to reject tradition and authority as inherently oppressive, while adopting at least a veneer of respect for all cultures other than its own. Like all cultures, he cautions, ours will always need a tradition that provides a foundation for moral judgment. We who espouse modern science still have reason to raise our children on the tradition of stories and ideals that accompanies modernity-not because it is the best tradition, but because it is our own.

Philosophy & Religion.

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A relatively unexplored subject in the social and intellectual history of our country is the contribution made by the moral philosophers, the social scientists of their day. What was their place in the academic and practical world? What was the nature of their social ethics? Did they have a real voice in public affairs? What brought about the decline of their influence?These questions are dealt with in Professors and Public Ethics. In particular, Professor Smith discusses the beliefs and careers of some of the leading moral philosophers-William Paley, John Daniel Gros, Francis Lieber, Charles B. Haddock, Francis Wayland, James Walker, and others. Their writings and their views upon moral questions and the moral aspects of leading questions of their time are presented; among the problems dealt with are abolition of slavery, state rights, the Mexican War, Know-Nothing politics, agriculture and farm problems, the tariff, free trade, savings banks, recessions and booms, repudiation of state debts, and prison reform.Historians, as well as present-day social scientists and church leaders, should find Professors and Public Ethics a sound, thoughtful, and valuable contribution to our knowledge about the mid-nineteenth century.

Philosophy & Religion.

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Though Mark Twain is best remembered as perhaps the quintessential American humor writer, he was also a keen observer and critic of cultural and social trends. In this vein, he undertook a book-length discussion and analysis of Christian Science and New Thought, both of which enjoyed immense popularity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States. The controversial text was originally rejected by Twain's publisher, a gesture that the author saw as confirming the influence and power of the religious movement.

Religion --- Philosophy & Religion --- Christianity

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Joseph Raz offers an explanation of the normativity of rules promises, decisions, and orders using an analysis of a special type of reasons, providing an account of the systematic interdependence of rules in legal and other systems.

Philosophy & Religion --- Philosophy

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Philosophy --- Philosophy & Religion