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

Neiman, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151011974 ISBN 13: 9780151011971

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2008

Synopsis

Susan Neiman is a moral philosopher committed to making the tools of her trade relevant to real life. In Moral Clarity, she shows how resurrecting a moral vocabulary—good and evil, heroism and nobility—can steer us clear of the dogmas of the right and the helpless pragmatism of the left. In search of a framework for forming clear opinions and taking responsible action on today’s urgent political and social questions, Neiman reaches back to the eighteenth century, retrieving a set of virtues—happiness, reason, reverence, and hope—that were held high by every Enlightenment thinker. She shows that the pursuit of moral clarity is not a matter of religious faith but is open to all who are committed to these ideals, believers and nonbelievers alike. And she draws on literature, evolutionarytheory, and other contemporary research to show why, by keeping before us the distinction between the real and the possible, these ideals continue to guide and inspire.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"It is a bracing and exhilarating experience to read Susan Neiman's Moral Clarity. Not only does she argue and illustrate the case for moral clarity; in doing so she exemplifies the moral courage and imagination we so dearly need. This is a necessary book for our times.--Breyten Breytenbach, author of Windcatcher

"This is a tour de force: a witty, profound and powerful successor to her breakthrough book, Evil in Modern Thought. Against all the postmodernist caricatures and atheist rants, Susan Neiman gives us a flesh-and-blood Enlightment - a living culture of vivid debate about justice, heroism, and our moral nature, about the ends and means of reverence no less than of reason.--Todd Gitlin, author of The Big Tent

"With passion, wit, and high intelligence, Susan Neiman invites us to be moral grown-ups, which means to take on the question 'What ought to be done?' and actually to come up with an answer. Morally and politically compelling - and a delight to read.--Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars

"Susan Neiman's profound wisdom, courage and vision give us a public conception of goodness and a reinvigorated progressive vision that will resonate with the religious while remaining thoroughly secular and democratic. She is a beacon of light and hope in our morally debased times.--Cornel West, author of Democracy Matters

About the Author

SUSAN NEIMAN is an American philosopher who has taught at Yale University, Tel Aviv University, and the Humboldt University of Berlin, and is currently director of the Einstein Forum. She is the author of three previous books, most recently Evil in Modern Thought. She lives with her three children in Berlin.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0151011974
• ISBN 13: 9780151011971
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480