Moral Soundings Readings on the Crisis of

This topically organized, interdisciplinary anthology provides competing perspective on the claim that western culture faces a moral crisis. Using clearly written, accessible essays by well-known authors in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities, the book introduces students to a variety of perspectives on the current cultural debate about values that percolates beneath the surface of most of our social and political controversies.

Preface

xi

Introduction

xiii

Part I: Morals and Money

1

(48)

1 The Spirit of Capitalism 2000

3

(22)

David Bosworth

Study Questions

23

(1)

Interventions: Autonomy, Humility, and Self-Direction

24

(1)

2 Markets and the Social Structure of Morality

25

(12)

David Marsland

Study Questions

33

(2)

Interventions: Autonomy as Self-Sufficiency

35

(2)

3 Two Cheers for Capitalism

37

(12)

James B. Twitchell

Study Questions

45

(2)

Interventions: Does Capitalism Subvert or Support Autonomy?

47

(2)

Part II: The Promise of Equality

49

(46)

4 Nihilism in Black America

51

(8)

Cornel West

Study Questions

58

(1)

5 Life, Liberty, Property

59

(8)

Richard Pipes

Study Questions

66

(1)

6 Still the Land of Opportunity?

67

(16)

Isabel V. Sawhill

Study Questions

79

(1)

Interventions: Are We Equal in Our Capacity to Make Our Own Decisions?

80

(3)

7 The Moral Demands of Global Justice

83

(12)

Thomas Pogge

Study Questions

91

(3)

Interventions: Is Personal Autonomy Compatible with Justice for All?

94

(1)

Part III: Where Love Meets Obligation: The Family in Turmoil

95

(40)

8 Philosophical Reflections on the Family at Millennium's Beginning

97

(10)

Jean Bethke Elshtain

Study Questions

106

(1)

9 Reconcilable Differences: What It Would Take for Marriage and Feminism to Say "I Do."

107

(10)

Janet C. Gornick

Study Questions

115

(2)

10 Why Marriage?

117

(18)

Jane Smiley

Study Questions

129

(1)

Interventions: Negotiating Dependence and Independence

130

(5)

Part IV: Coping with Hi-Tech Cowboys

135

(40)

11 The Age of Genetic Technology Arrives

137

(18)

Leon Kass

Study Questions

152

(3)

12 What's at the Bottom of the Slippery Slope: A Post-Human Future?

155

(20)

Jerry Weinberger

Study Questions

171

(2)

Interventions: Can We Control Technology?

173

(2)

Part V: In God We Trust-or Do We?

175

(20)

13 Can We Be Good without Hell?

177

(8)

Jerry L. Walls

Study Questions

183

(2)

14 Everything I Like about Religion I Learned from an Atheist

185

(10)

Barbara Ehrenreich

Study Questions

189

(2)

Interventions: Is Obedience to God Compatible with Making My Own Decisions?

191

(4)

Part VI: Global Conflict

195

(30)

15 The Future of "History": Francis Fukuyama vs. Samuel P. Huntington

197

(18)

Stanley Kurtz

Study Questions

212

(3)

16 The Clash of Ignorance

215

(10)

Edward W. Said

Study Questions

220

(1)

Interventions: Hybrid Identities and Autonomy

221

(4)

Part VII: It's All Good: Life among the Relativists

225

(26)

17 Are We Living in a Moral Stone Age?

227

(8)

Christina Hoff Sommers

Study Questions

233

(2)

18 Of Cave Dwellers and Spirits: The Trouble with Moral Absolutes

235

(16)

Dwight Furrow

Study Questions

246

(1)

Interventions: Autonomy and Objectivity

247

(4)

Part VIII: Renewals

251

(42)

19 Ecological Humanism: A Moral Image for Our Emotive Culture

253

(8)

Steven Fesmire

Study Questions

259

(2)

20 American National Pride

261

(12)

Richard Rorty

Study Questions

269

(4)

21 Society in the Postmodern Era

273

(20)

Albert Borgmann

Study Questions

283

(2)

Interventions: How to Reconcile Moral Freedom and Moral Responsiveness

285

(8)

Suggestions for Further Reading

293

(2)

Index

295

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Moral Soundings Readings on the Crisis of Values in Contemporary Life

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials