Description
Book SynopsisControversies about abortion, the environment, pornography, AIDS, and similar issues naturally lead to the question of whether there are any values that can be ultimately justified, or whether values are simply conventional. This book argues that the moral and political uncertainties are due to a deep change in our society.
Trade Review"Kekes's articulation of pluralism has a powerful suppleness. The consequences of adopting such an understanding of pluralism in the political sphere are genuinely thought-provoking."--Stephen Mulhall, The Times Literary Supplement "In this eloquent work, Kekes proposes an apology for moral pluralism... He painstakingly analyzes the radicality of moral conflict, which cannot be masked by resort to facile monisms. Further, he carefully sketches a reasonable approach to the practical resolution of value conflicts in the individual and the political orders... [H]e provides a remarkable analysis of moral imagination as the locus of possible moral and aesthetic values, the rich horizon of our actual pluralism."--John J, Conley, S.J., Theological Studies "Kekes's presentation of pluralism is the first sustained account of an important new moral theory and a formidable attempt to refute the claim that 'our morality is disintegrating.'"--Choice
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsCh. 1Introduction: Setting the Stage3Ch. 2The Six Theses of Pluralism17Ch. 3The Plurality and Conditionality of Values38Ch. 4The Unavoidability of Conflicts53Ch. 5The Nature of Reasonable Conflict-Resolution76Ch. 6The Possibilities of Life99Ch. 7The Need for Limits118Ch. 8The Prospects for Moral Progress139Ch. 9Some Moral Implications of Pluralism: On There Being Some Limits Even to Morality161Ch. 10Some Personal Implications of Pluralism: Innocence Lost and Regained179Ch. 11Some Political Implications of Pluralism: The Conflict with Liberalism199Works Cited219Index225
