Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Of all the things in the world that need changing, metaphysics may not be high on your list of priorities..." (more)
Key Phrases: Abu Ghraib, World War, The Odyssey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The Enlightenment project of constructing a rational morality—pronounced dead by commentators on the left and right—has found a champion determined to resurrect it for the twenty-first century. Neiman acknowledges, with distress, that the moral vocabulary of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant now survives only among conservatives, whose religious orthodoxies and political agendas she rejects. But progressives must recover that vocabulary, she asserts, if they are to renew society’s commitment to egalitarian justice. Ideologically disarmed by the collapse of Marxism and philosophically paralyzed by the radical skepticism of postmodernism, left-liberal thinkers risk surrendering the young to religious fundamentalists and cynical nihilists if they cannot reclaim the secular ideals of pioneering Enlightenment writers. Committed to the pursuit of happiness through reason, these writers defy their detractors’ caricatures by soberly acknowledging the limits of human faculties, even voicing reverent gratitude for nature’s inexplicable mysteries, while still cultivating hope that human endeavor can advance good and defeat evil. In such mature hope, Neiman finds the possibility for a twenty-first-century moral heroism that brings to our age both the protean adaptability of Homer’s Odysseus and his resourceful resolve to shape his own future. An engaging analysis that will attract even readers who do not share Neiman’s left-liberal premises. --Bryce Christensen

Review

"Her prose is clear and vigorous, and as exhilarating as a good spin class, but don't be mistaken: This is not Philosophy for Dummies...If you prefer your philosophy to offer make-nice advice ("Tolerate diversity!" "Recycle!"), Moral Clarity is not for you. Neiman attacks both the left and the right for their failings--and praises them for their different strengths. You might find yourself disagreeing with some of her analyses, which is inevitable--and even desirable. Neiman wants engagement, not sheeplike agreement, and her book is meant to spark conversation." -- Body and Soul Magazine, June 2008

"The Enlightenment project of constructing a rational morality--pronounced dead by commentators on the left and right--has found a champion determined to resurrect it for the twenty-first century." -- Booklist (starred review) April 1, 2008

"The seemingly endless contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is, among other things, a referendum on that perennial question: what ails the American left? To this stale discussion Susan Neiman brings a new thought: the problem with our liberal elites, she insists, is a lack of philosophical nerve. The task Neiman sets herself is to rescue today's political left from its own handicaps. Neiman is a subtle and energetic guide to the unjustly maligned Western canon (who) writes with verve and a sometimes epigrammatic wit....Moral Clarity is a plea for renewal, an argument for re-engaging with the moral vocabulary of the country." -- Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2008

"Neiman's particular skill lies in expressing sensitivity, intelligence and moral seriousness without any hint of oversimplification, dogmatism or misplaced piety. She clearly and unflinchingly sees life as it is, but also sees how it might be, and could be, if we recaptured some of the hopes and ideals that currently escape us." -- The New York Times, July 27, 2008 (Simon Blackburn)

"Susan Neiman is a masterly storyteller; her new book Moral Clarity offers retellings of the Odyssey and the Book of Job that are themselves worth the price of admission. But she also has stories about the origins of her own position that place her in both larger intellectual narratives and more local political ones...Her project can be seen as a progressive alternative to (Allan Bloom's) The Closing of the American Mind." -- Slate, May 27, 2008 (K. Anthony Appiah)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Trade Publishers; 1 edition (May 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151011974
• ISBN-13: 978-0151011971
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #324,878 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Not Easy, But It's Worth the Effort, May 2, 2008

By	Boston Law Prof - See all my reviews

Susan Neiman's Moral Clarity asks a lot of the reader, but returns the investment many fold. The issue here is how it came to be that the political right managed to usurp the "embarrassing" Enlightenment values like hope, reverence, and reason, ones that the political left prefers to avoid for fear of what? Offending? Taking a clear stand? Sounding sappy or unsophisticated?

To my mind, the key here, as in Evil in Modern Thought, is her gift in articulating a philosophy that does not come easily: Kantian or perhaps Jewish transcendentalism, in which we acknowledge that there are moral imperatives accessible to us by our reason, which imperatives or values are very real, yet not objective in the sense that they can be proved. The left reviles the religious certainty of the Bush and the neo-conservatives - morality there is real and a matter of truth; the right reviles the left's post-modern rejection of moral imperative as having any reality at all. How do you challenge God? How do you manage the paradox of radical uncertainty about the source of moral clarity, but the sense, on the other hand, that there are some clear answers (as least from time to time)?

Ranging from Abraham's confrontation with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, to a defense of the Enlightenment thinkers, to a retelling of the lessons of Odysseus's journey home from Troy, Susan Neiman proposes a method for approaching moral clarity. There are no easy answers, and we need not necessarily agree in our conclusions (an irony about moral clarity), but, in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The world can be improved, June 26, 2008

By	Eng J. Amarante Santos (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I will try to be as clear as the title: this book has as central thesis that the world we live in can and should be improved. There is abundant evidence showing that this has happened many times but there are no guarantees that we will continue to improve. There is always the risk that the world we live in will get worse. Given these circumstances, all human beings are called to give their small, medium or large contribution for the improvement of the world.

The thesis may seem relatively trivial but there are many philosophers which adopted an extreme pessimism and do not subscribe it. We also hear very frequent references to the immutability of "human nature", and the subsequent call for resignation.

The author is an American philosopher born in Atlanta with an entry in Wikipedia and a Web site. She has other books, namely the "Evil in Modern Thought" published in 2002.

The author has a great fascination for the Enlightenment thought and is strongly influenced by Kant. The "Evil in Modern Thought" owes somehow its genesis to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, to the heated philosophical discussions caused by this event and to the difficulty of reconciling the existence of a kind God, constantly intervening in the world, with the occurrence of a disaster of the magnitude of the earthquake, in a Catholic country often called "Much Faithful Nation" by the Vatican.

The excellent reception of the book has encouraged the author to move to this new one, in which the philosophy, by enabling us to better understand the world in which we live, gives us the tools to transform it. The title of the book "Moral Clarity" is an American expression dear to the political right. The author believes that the left unduly allowed the right to own the concept of Moral Clarity and even fears that the lies and corruption of the Bush administration ultimately discredit a concept which is essential for building a more just society.

After an introduction with an extraordinary text that is accessible at the author's web site - http://www.susan-neiman.de/docs/moralclarity_content.html (and whose reading I strongly recommend) and after establishing the distinction between what is and what should be, the author visits the virtues of the Enlightenment, including Happiness, Reason, Reverence and Hope. The book ends with references to Odyssey, featuring Ulysses as the hero with the qualities of the Enlightenment, to the tools that allow us to identify the evil, to the people of today who may be considered heroes and closes encouraging the reader not to accept unjust situations.

The author has not yet found any simple way to define evil and is convinced that any simple definition will fail the task. The identification of evil is a laborious task of interpretation and discussion of nuances and details.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Timely, May 13, 2008

By	Doron Ben-atar "Doron Ben-Atar" (New Haven, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Susan Neiman is a most unusual philosopher. Whereas most academic philosophers produce inaccessible archaic meditations, she addresses the central social and ethical issues that define the human search for meaning and truth. And she does so in a jargon free and lively style that invites readers to consider her profound insights. Moral Clarity reclaims the discourse of values and ethics for the liberal left. Drawing on her expertise in Kant and the Enlightenment, Neiman demands that the liberal left reclaim the language of nobility and virtue. Moral Clarity is an inspiring work that provides the intellectual foundations for the new generation of progressives.