Moral Soundings: Readings on the Crisis of Values in Contemporary Life [Paperback]

While the readings in Moral Soundings raise specific issues about capitalism, family life, biotechnology, religion, and global conflict, the editor's introductions and 'interventions' relate the readings to different conceptions of autonomy and different evaluations of those conceptions. This unity-in-diversity format should work very well in the classroom.Framed to probe the issue of what lies beneath the troubled waters of Western life, Dwight Furrows Moral Soundings bridges the gap between academic philosophy and the world of public intellectuals. Badly needed; it is a gift.This topically organized, interdisciplinary anthology provides competing perspective on the claim that western culture faces a moral crisis. Using clearly written, accessible essays by well-known authors in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities, the book introduces students to a variety of perspectives on the current cultural debate about values that percolates beneath the surface of most of our social and political controversies.Moral Soundings takes a fresh new approach to introducing students and general readers to contemporary ethics. Rather than surveying the standard fare in a typical anthology format, Furrow collects diversified essays around a structured theme: does Western culture face a moral crisis of values? Prominent voices in the humanities and social sciences provide a range of perspectives on a concentrated set of ethical questions dealing with such topics as family values, the morality of capitalism, the benefits and dangers of new technologies, global conflict, and the role of religion. Unlike point/counterpoint books that often oversimplify the complexity of ethical questions, the readings in Moral Soundings provoke critical engagement and help students to recognize and emulate the logical development of arguments-all in engaging and easily accessible language. Readings are supplemented with helpful chapter introductions, study questions, and strategically l#}