Natural moralities: a defense of pluralistic relativism PDF
Preview Natural moralities: a defense of pluralistic relativism
NATURAL MORALITIES This page intentionally left blank NATURAL MORALITIES A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism David B. Wong 1 3 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright#2006byOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016 www.oup.com FirstissuedasanOxfordUniversityPressPaperback,2009 OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Wong,DavidB. Naturalmoralities:adefenseofpluralisticrelativism/DavidB.Wong. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex. ISBN978-0-19-538329-4 1. Ethicalrelativism. I. Title. BJ37.W662006 171´.7—dc22 2005056286 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper For Laura This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments IamfortunatetohaveLawrenceBlumandOwenFlanaganasgoodfriends and philosophical interlocutors. They have shown me how philosophers can grapple with what is most important, not necessarily with what is most easily regimentedormanagedbyone’sfavoredphilosophicalmethod.Theyhaveshownme that striving to understand what is most important should take us across methodo- logicalandsubjectboundariesthatdividephilosophersfromeachother(hasitstruck anyoneelsehowmuchthemeetingroomsattheAmericanPhilosophicalAssociation arelikelittleislands?)andalsoacrossboundariesthatseparatephilosophersfromother humanistic and scientific disciplines. I have been stimulated and sustained by philo- sophicaldiscussiongroupsthatovertheyearshaveincludedBlumandFlanagan,Judith DeCew,Janet FarrellSmith, SallyHaslanger,Thomas Hill, Jr., Martha Minow,Steven Nathanson,JenniferRadden,MargaretRhodes,Ame´lieRorty,GeoffreySayreMcCord, DavidWilkins,KennethWinkler,KennethWinston,andMichaelZimmerman.Ihave been able to weave into this book themes from Chinese philosophy and comparative ethics, and in this part of my work I have received a great deal of encouragement, stimulation, and challenge from Kwong-loi Shun, Joseph Chan, Antonio Cua, Chad Hansen, P. J. Ivanhoe, Xinyan Jiang, Henry Rosemont, Jr., Bryan Van Norden, and JiyuanYu.MycolleaguesatDuke—especiallyFlanagan,MartinGolding,andAlexander Rosenberg—have been generous with their time and talents in providing me with feedback and suggestions. Boris Kukso and Marion Hourdequin provided helpful commentsondraftsofthisbook.Workonthisbookwassupportedbyfellowshipsfrom theAmericanCouncilofLearnedSocietiesandtheNationalEndowmentfortheHu- manities.MythanksgotoPeterOhlinforhisstewardshipofthisbook. This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction, xi Part I How Pluralism and Naturalism Make for Natural Moralities 1 Pluralism and Ambivalence, 5 2 Pluralistic Relativism, 29 3 Objections and Replies, 76 Part II Constraints on Natural Moralities 4 Identity, Flourishing, and Relationship, 115 5 Community and Liberal Theory, 146 6 Does Psychological Realism Constrain the Content of Moralities?, 159 Part III Having Confidence in Our Moral Commitments 7 Moral Reasons—Internal and External, 179 8 Morality and Need, 202 9 Coping with Moral Difference, 228 Bibliography, 273 Index, 287
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