Moral Relativism: Big Ideas/Small Books [Deckle Edge] [Paperback]

Steven Lukes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2008 | Series: Big Ideas/Small Books

Moral relativism attracts and repels. What is defensible in it and what is to be rejected? Do we as human beings have no shared standards by which we can understand one another? Can we abstain from judging one another's practices? Do we truly have divergent views about what constitutes good and evil, virtue and vice, harm and welfare, dignity and humiliation, or is there some underlying commonality that trumps it all?

These questions turn up everywhere, from Montaigne's essay on cannibals, to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, to the debate over female genital mutilation. They become ever more urgent with the growth of mass immigration, the rise of religious extremism, the challenges of Islamist terrorism, the rise of identity politics, and the resentment at colonialism and the massive disparities of wealth and power between North and South. Are human rights and humanitarian interventions just the latest form of cultural imperialism? By what right do we judge particular practices as barbaric? Who are the real barbarians?

In this provocative new book, the distinguished social theorist Steven Lukes takes an incisive and enlightening look at these and other challenging questions and considers the very foundations of what we believe, why we believe it, and whether there is a profound discord between "us" and "them."

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

In this short work, Lukes (sociology, NYU; Power: A Radical View) examines moral relativism and the possible responses to its claims. He explains that there are two important parts of arguments for moral relativism: the diversity of moral views in different cultures and how our moral judgments are relative to the society in which we live. According to Lukes, moral relativism is not easily dismissed and raises issues like ethnocentrism and the clashing of cultural values; however, acknowledging that different cultures have diverse and at times conflicting values should not lead to the acceptance of moral relativism. Instead, Lukes presents an alternative that allows for a range of values and yet realizes that there are some values that are universal for all humans and there are certain standards that we can use to create moral norms. Overall, Lukes does a terrific job of presenting a brief but informative examination of moral relativism that will reward general readers and students of philosophy. Recommended for public and academic libraries.—Scott Duimstra, Capital Area Dist. Lib., Lansing, MI
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Review

Praise for Moral Relativism by Steven Lukes

"A book on moral relativism by someone with a steely understanding of social reality? Only Steven Lukes could write it. If his insights are disturbing rather than comforting, he presents them with clarity, grace, and modesty."--Richard Sennett, author of The Craftsman

 

"No sociologist alive is a sharper philosopher than Steven Lukes. He has been making mincemeat of academic distinctions for decades, bringing a razor mind and an eye for significance to all manner of vexing questions about power, individualism, rationality, human rights, identity, and now, in this masterful little volume, moral relativism. He reads like an omnivore, writes like a dream, and has both the reason and the courage to say that some positions are right and others wrong."--Todd Gitlin, author of Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms our Lives

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Picador; First Edition edition (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312427190
• ISBN-13: 978-0312427191
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent concise overview, September 7, 2009

By 

MT57 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moral Relativism: Big Ideas/Small Books (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book as a very concise exposition of the subject in a very accessible style. It explains the origins of moral relativism in anthropology, and theories of cultural relativism that grew from it. Principally, it lays out in concise fashion the work of both those who sponsor the doctrine of moral relativism and those who criticize it. When explaining the latter, he also briefly identifies their alternative theories for a universalized moral philosophy when they are offered.

The book suggests early on that it will deliver its own independent critique of moral relativism and offer an theory of universal moral philosophy, yet in fact it underdelivers on that count. Although at the end Professor Lukes suggests some ideas drawn from Aristotle and Kant as bases for a universalized moral philosophy, he does not test those at all, and the Eurocentric roots of his proposition call into question the ability to prove their universal acceptance, yet he does not even acknowledge that issue.

So, in summary, this read to me as an excellent descriptive summary of the principal thinking on this subject, while not itself an major independent advancement of any alternative perspective.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent starting point for such debates, March 14, 2009

By 

Neil M. Gong (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moral Relativism: Big Ideas/Small Books (Paperback)

This is a great introduction to theoretical work on relativism, multiculturalism, moral diversity, etc. Lukes creates a space for numerous thinkers to debate one another in a way that is very accessible to the uninitiated. My one reservation is that I would have liked a more thorough engagement with postmodern epistemology. While there is a brief section on Richard Rorty's neo-pragmatism, Lukes largely seems to see problems of morality as separate from problems of knowledge formation. He suggests that though morals may or may not be relative, no one "really" believes that science isn't objective. Science studies scholars, feminist theorists of the body, and Foucaultians would all likely argue that last point, as well as suggest that these and moral questions go hand in hand. Still, this is an excellent intro to a set of questions that can be argued endlessly, and I enjoyed it immensely. I should disclose that I studied with Lukes back in college and am a fan of his work. Check it out.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read and a wonderful introduction, April 26, 2009

By 

Luca Graziuso (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moral Relativism: Big Ideas/Small Books (Paperback)

Steven Lukes is at his best in this little gem of a book. Any scholar will seek out a thorough and consummate exploration of a topic with a body of ideas fully rendered in the complexity and dynamism owed by real life. Sociology is hardly exhaustive when trying to give structure or read behavioral patterns; and political science is always a step behind the experiential when trying to define the ways and means that comprise the analytical enterprise. Here we have a social theorist capable of investing in a difficult topic with expertise and panache, sensitivity and a pliable academic intuition that poses questions and offers potential benefits such question are due to yield. The name dropping and concomitant quoting a reviewer has deemed inappropriate and overweening is, to the contrary, fluid, pertinent and always fitting the implied excursus. In other words when Lukes adds a quote to the discussion he is doing so to award historical incision to the ideas expressed and divulge its source and import in a way that makes the thread of the logic traceable while compellingly inscribing a tenor and a vision that are compounded by the varied social philosophers. I grant you it may be frustrating for those less acquainted with such names, however this is not necessary to its precepts, the premise or the overall arch of the moral implications therein exposed. And for those familiar with the history it will flesh out a separate dimension that is as entertaining as it is invigorating and explicitly lively.
The language and the examples offered are unique in their virtue of giving relativism a statement that is concise, deep and far-reaching. Anyone with a slight interest in the subject, or a well-founded kinship to the ideas, whether by means of cross-pollination or direct correlation, should do well to consult these 160 pages and be the better for them. An excellent read and a wonderful introduction to a deceptively simple idea!