In Face of the Facts: Moral Inquiry in American ScholarshipRichard Wightman Fox, Robert B. Westbrook Recently there has been a renewed interest in moral inquiry among American scholars in a variety of disciplines. This collection of accessible essays by scholars in philosophy, political theory, psychology, history, literary studies, sociology, religious studies, anthropology, and legal studies affords a view of the current state of moral inquiry in the American academy, and it offers fresh departures for ethically informed, interdisciplinary scholarship. Seeking neither to reduce values to facts nor facts to values, these essays aim to foster discussion about inquiry and moral judgment, and demonstrate that moral inquiry need not be either dispassionate and value-free or moralistic and preachy. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | |
Moral inquiry in American scholarship | 1 |
Pragmatism science and moral inquiry | 10 |
Political theory and moral responsibility | 40 |
Moral inquiry within the bounds of politics or A question of victimhood | 57 |
Moral confidence Three cheers for naturalized ethics | 83 |
Fighting over words Speech power and the moral imagination in American history | 112 |
Of the standard of moral taste Literary criticism as moral inquiry | 149 |
The moral force field of Haitian Vodou | 181 |
Snakes alive Resituating the moral in the study of religion | 201 |
Social science and the moral revival Dilemmas and difficulties | 227 |
Religion morality and other unmentionables The revival of moral discourse in the law | 251 |
Further readings | 283 |
About the authors | 289 |
| 291 | |
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In Face of the Facts: Moral Inquiry in American Scholarship Richard Wightman Fox,Robert B. Westbrook No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
abortion academic actions American argue argument assumptions battered women behavior believe causal responsibility Charles Taylor Chicago Christian claim concept confidence context courts Covington critics culture debate discipline discussion distinction economic emotivism emotivist empirical Essays ethical example experience fact-value fact-value distinction facts Haiti Harvard University Harvard University Press historians human Hume individuals intellectual John judges justice Karen McCarthy Law Review liberal listener lives Mama Lola Marion Smiley matter modern moral inquiry moral judgments moral responsibility moral revival narrative neutral normative notion objective Ogou one's particular person perspective philosophy political theory practice pragmatic principles Punkin Brown Puritan questions racism rational reason religion Religious Studies revival of moral role scholars scientific secular sense social sciences social scientist society speech Stanley Hauerwas stories strong evaluator Theory of Justice thick evaluative things tion tradition truth understanding Václav Havel values violence Vodou William words York