Moral Politics

Morals have held empires together, kept soldiers marching under fire, fed the hungry, passed laws, built walls, welcomed immigrants, destroyed careers and governed our sex lives. But what if morality's all meaningless rubbish, a malfunctioning relic of our evolutionary past? This is the provocative argument that Chris makes. This isn't an attack on one set of moral codes or one way of thinking about ethics: it's a call for abolishing the whole caboodle.

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is the first of Immanuel Kant's mature works on moral philosophy and remains one of the most influential in the field. Kant conceives his investigation as a work of foundational ethics - one that clears the ground for future research by explaining the core concepts and principles of moral theory, and showing that they are normative for rational agents.

For over a decade, human rights journalist Agus Morales has journeyed to the sites of the world's most brutal conflicts and spoken to the victims of violence and displacement. To Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Central African Republic. To Central America, the Congo, and the refugee camps of Jordan. To the Tibetan Parliament in exile in northern India. We are living in a time of massive global change, when negative images of refugees undermine the truth of their humiliation and suffering.

What is human well-being? Valerie Tiberius argues that our lives go well to the extent that we succeed in terms of what matters to us emotionally, reflectively, and over the long term. In other words, well-being consists in fulfilling or realizing our appropriate values over time. In the first half of the book, Tiberius sets out the theory of well-being as value fulfillment. She explains what valuing is and what it is to fulfill values over time. In the second half of the book, she applies the theory to the problem of how to help others, particularly our friends.

The Individualization of War examines the status of individuals in contemporary armed conflict in three main capacities: as subject to violence but deserving of protection; as liable to harm because of their responsibility for attacks on others; and as agents who can be held accountable for the perpetration of crimes.

What moral values do human beings hold in common? As globalization draws us together economically, are our values converging or diverging? In particular, are human rights becoming a global ethic? These were the questions that led Michael Ignatieff to embark on a three-year, eight-nation journey in search of answers. The Ordinary Virtues presents Ignatieff's discoveries and his interpretation of what globalization - and resistance to it - is doing to our conscience and our moral understanding.

The idea of moral evil has always held a special place in philosophy and theology because the existence of evil has implications for the dignity of the human and the limits of human action. Andrew Michael Flescher proposes four interpretations of evil, drawing on philosophical and theological sources and using them to trace through history the moral traditions that are associated with them.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the most influential philosophers of all time. His profound thoughts on aesthetics, ethics, and knowledge has had an enormous impact on all subsequent philosophy. Kant asked questions like “What is morally permissible, and what is morally obligatory?” and explored the answers in Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant's idea of the categorical imperative is a logical proof of the golden rule and the centerpiece of this work.

"Pour chanter les vingt ans du Pommier, mon éditrice me demanda d'écrire quelques lignes. Les voici. Pour une fois, j'y entre en morale, comme en terre nouvelle et inconnue, sur la pointe des pieds. On disait jadis de l'Arlequin de mes rêves, bienheureux comédien de l'art, qu'il corrigeait les mœurs en riant."

We like to think of ourselves, our friends, and our families as decent people. We may not be saints, but we are still honest, relatively kind, and mostly trustworthy. Christian Miller argues here that we are badly mistaken in thinking this. Hundreds of recent studies in psychology tell a different story: that we all have serious character flaws that prevent us from being as good as we think we are - and that we do not even recognize that these flaws exist.

All social groups have ideals for behavior, even though ethics vary among different cultures and among individuals within each culture. In trying to understand why, Churchland brings together an understanding of the influences of nature and nurture. She looks to evolution to elucidate how, from birth, our brains are configured to form bonds, to cooperate, and to care. Conscience delves into scientific studies, particularly the fascinating work on twins, to deepen our understanding of whether people have a predisposition to embrace specific ethical stands.

Les Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales, plus connues sous le titres de Maximes, sont une collection de peintures philosophiques rassemblées par le duc de la Rochefoucauld. "C'est un des ouvrages qui contribuèrent le plus à former le goût de la nation, et à lui donner un esprit de justesse et de précision... Il accoutuma à penser et à renfermer des pensées dans un tour vif, précis et délicat" en dit Voltaire dans son "Siècle de Louis XIV".

What is it exactly that made for the greatness of Western Civilization? Why did it have its ups and downs, and where do things seem headed today? Ultimately, this two-volume series is as much a political-moral teaching as it is a presentation of the details of the West's wonderful (and sometimes tragic) historical record.

In this daring and insightful work, Nietzsche lays bare the hypocrisies at the foundations of our ideas of morality. Considering ideas of good and evil, guilt and conscience, and law and violence along the way, On the Genealogy of Morals takes the listener on a journey through the history of value systems in three masterful essays.

The Moral Powers: A Study of Human Nature is a philosophical investigation of the moral potentialities and sensibilities of human beings, of the meaning of human life, and of the place of death in life. It is an essay in philosophical anthropology: the study of the conceptual framework in terms of which we think about, speak about, and investigate homo sapiens as a social and cultural animal. This volume examines the diversity of values in human life and the place of moral value within the varieties of values.

The King is dead. One by one, heads of state fall—ritualistic, symbolic, and terrifyingly precise. The CIA sends in their best: Will and Thomas. They're partners in espionage and lovers in a world where one wrong move means a bullet—or worse. Their orders? Hunt the killers. Keep it quiet. Don't die.

The Soul of Capitalism examines how the greatest wealth-creation engine in the history of the world is failing most of us, why it must be changed, and how intrepid pioneers are beginning to transform it. Best-selling author William Greider analyzes how our relentless pursuit of unprecedented affluence has eroded family life, eaten away at our sense of personal and professional security, corroded our communities, impoverished our spiritual lives, and devastated our natural environment.

La genealogía de la moral de Friedrich Nietzsche no es un libro de autoayuda en el sentido clásico, pero puede convertirse en una poderosa herramienta de transformación personal si se lee con una mirada introspectiva. En esta obra, Nietzsche cuestiona el origen de nuestros valores morales y nos impulsa a examinar si vivimos bajo principios propios o simplemente heredados.

Election results are announced. Half the country is elated. The other half are more than unhappy - they are morally stressed. They will be until the next election. It doesn't have to be this way. It's no secret that the loathing, even hatred, between the political left and right are increasing. Existing explanations are superficial, and they have not provided solutions. And so, the problem persists.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. It earned him an enormous reputation and would become one of the most influential works on economics ever published. Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics and capitalism. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and the University of Oxford.