Authors:
- Explores the dynamics, structure, and normativity of moral change
- Uses eight narratives of moral change, mainly based on case material from the practice of law and legal history
- Written for scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, law, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology
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Table of contents (18 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Part I
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Front Matter
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Part II
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Front Matter
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About this book
How does moral change happen? What leads to the overthrow or gradual transformation of moral beliefs, ideals, and values? Change is one of the most striking features of morality, yet it is poorly understood. In this book, Cecilie Eriksen provides an illuminating map of the dynamics, structure, and normativity of moral change. Through eight narratives inspired by the legal domain and in dialogue with modern moral philosophy, Eriksen discusses moral bias, conflict, progress, and revolutions. She develops a context-sensitive understanding of ethics and shows how we can harvest a knowledge of the past that will enable us to build a better future.
Reviews
“This is a book that deserves to be widely read at a moment when, in all corners of the world, we find ourselves grappling with the difference between the moralities of then and now. We know that morality changes and yet there is little subtlety in our common efforts to condemn or exculpate, as if the gap between past and present either did not exist or was completely unbridgeable. Erikson's beautiful work shows the sort of thinking that's needed now: nuanced, incisive, and unafraid of the complexity of lived experience.” (Anne O'Byrne, Stony Brook University, author of Natality and Finitude)
”Cecilie Eriksen's insightful discussions of examples of moral change are a high point of her book, and ground her treatment of a wide range of conceptual and empirical questions. The philosophical sharpness of her writing is joined with a deeply humane intelligence. This is an altogether impressive book.” (Cora Diamond, Kenan Professor of Philosophy Emerita, University of Virginia,(USA), author of The Realistic Spirit: Wittgenstein, Philosophy, and the Mind)
“This timely, beautifully argued book takes up an issue of urgent concern across the humanities and social sciences and develops it systematically, with learning, insight, and compassion. Human moral choices will be flawed, Eriksen argues; there will be uncertainty, doubt, and hesitation. But humans must and will choose. Standing on this solid ground, Moral Change makes a compelling argument for an ethical realism that is at once clear-sighted and hopeful. An important contribution to the anthropology and phenomenology of morality.” (Robert A. Orsi, Professor of Religious Studies and History at Northwestern University, USA, author of History and Presence)
”Perhaps more than ever, philosophy today needs to think about moral change. This timely book takes up the challenge in showing us a contextual ethics appropriate to the ethical demands of our time. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in ethics in the 21st century.” (Jarrett Zigon, Porterfield Chair of Bioethics and Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia. USA, author of Disappointment: Toward a Critical Hermeneutics of Worldbuilding and A War on People: Drug User Politics and a New Ethics of Community)
“Eriksen’s stimulating and refreshing monograph combines philosophical analysis of sources and structures of moral change with rich illustration via judicious selection of important historical cases, drawing on law, anthropology, literature and art. It is written in vivid, engaging conversational prose and should appeal to anyone interested in the place of ethics in human life, in historical and contemporary context.” (Nigel Pleasants, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter , UK, author of Wittgenstein and the idea of a critical social theory)“Cecilie Eriksen’s stimulating monograph provides fascinating insights into the dynamics of moral change and a cure for the belief in a uniform account of this phenomenon. Eriksen combines careful philosophical reflection at a more abstract level with empirically informed discussions of concrete historical examples. The resulting account of moral change is nuanced, multifaceted, and responsive to the complexity of human moral life. The book will appeal to a broad readership, including philosophers from different traditions, legal scholars, historians, and anthropologists.” (Julia Hermann, Lecturer, University of Twente. Netherlands, author of On Moral Certainty, Justification and Practice: A Wittgensteinian Perspective)
”The question that drives this book is as bold as it is ambitious: what role do we, normative animals, play in amongst the factors that drive moral change? Eriksen’s book tackles this question with a clear and original voice that bridges many of the disciplinary and cultural divides that have so far hampered debate in this area.” (Sylvie Delacroix, Professor in Law and Ethics, University of Birmingham (UK), author of Legal Norms and Normativity: An Essay in Genealogy)
Authors and Affiliations
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Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Cecilie Eriksen
About the author
Cecilie Eriksen is a Postdoc at the Ethics Institute, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Moral Change
Book Subtitle: Dynamics, Structure, and Normativity
Authors: Cecilie Eriksen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61037-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-61036-4Published: 15 December 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-61039-5Published: 16 December 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-61037-1Published: 14 December 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 180
Topics: Ethics, European Law