"Margolis's
book is a serious contribution to a new and valuable approach to
moral philosophy. Rightly suspicious of approaches that attempt
to ground morality in ultimate principles, Margolis seeks a way
of understanding morality that heeds the data of the moral experience
of individuals and groups of individuals. Focusing on intractable
moral disputes, such as the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Margolis
provides a conceptual framework for a mode of moral reasoning that
can move toward a modus vivendi, as opposed to a final moral judgment."—J.
Kellenberger, California State University, Northridge
"This
is a major contribution on many counts to the extant literature
on morality and the ethical issues raised by globalization and the
subsequent conflict of cultures. Although Margolis may be criticized
for formulating a "second-best" morality that embraces
values associated with the West's Enlightenment tradition, on his
own account he has no alternative starting point. Those whose tradition
provides them with a different starting point may balk, but Margolis
counts on the fact that the desire to end conflict, violence, death,
and destruction may prompt them to engage at least in dialectical
discussion. Let us hope that this book will also be read by those
most in need of it: those who hold positions of power, privilege,
and influence in the West yet fail to see that their very own tradition
commits them to the second-best morality that Margolis is formulating."
—Joanne Waugh, University of South Florida
Were
the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks courageous “freedom fighters”
or despicable terrorist murderers? These opposing characterizations
reveal in extreme form the incompatibility between different moral
visions that underlie many conflicts in the world today, conflicts
that challenge us to consider how moral disputes may be resolved.
Eschewing the resort to universal moral principles favored by traditional
Anglo-American analytic philosophy, Joseph Margolis sets out to
sketch an alternative approach that accepts the lack of any neutral
ground or privileged normative perspective for deciding moral disputes.
This “second-best” morality, nevertheless, aspires to
achieve an “objectively” valid resolution through a dialectical
procedure of reasoning toward a modus vivendi, an accommodation
of prudential interests that are rooted in the customs and practices
of the societies in conflict.
In
working out this approach, Margolis engages with a wide range of
thinkers, from Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel through Nietzsche,
Heidegger, Levinas, Rawls, Habermas, MacIntyre, Rorty, and Nussbaum,
and his argument is enlivened by reference to many specific moral
issues such as abortion, the control of Kashmir, and the continuing
struggle between the Muslim world and the West. |
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Joseph
Margolis is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy at Temple
University. With Penn State Press he has also published What,
After All, Is a Work of Art? (1999), Selves and Other Texts:
The Case for Cultural Realism (2001), and the co-edited volume
The Quarrel Between Invariance and Flux (2001).
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