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Political Morality in a Disenchanted World

Edmund Abegg

Political morality concerns what programs and policies government ought to adopt. What would this morality look like in a disenchanted world, one in which rationality prevails? The enchanted world is extensive, including not just religion but traditional morality.
In this book, Edmund Abegg constructs a coherent path that leads from abstract psychological and moral theory to ideal political and economic scenarios and then to their real-world applications, which for him are in terms of national political goals. These goals, individual autonomy and welfare, function as political morality in this new framework in place of traditional mythical ideas such as justice. Descriptive chapters on our current world indicate that these goals are in play, if only partly.
Concerning these national moral-political goals, which may be domestic or international, the crucial distinction he seeks to establish is between aggregated or big-picture goals and individualized goals. The latter are typically seen as establishing individual rights.
This book establishes a framework that clarifies important public policy issues in a way not possible if a jungle growth of myth envelopes our efforts with confusion and unnecessary controversies.

University Press of America

Pages: 260 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7618-6152-2 • Hardback • June 2013 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-0-7618-6153-9 • eBook • June 2013 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Essays, Philosophy / Political, Political Science / Commentary & Opinion, Political Science / Utopias

Political Morality in a Disenchanted World

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Political morality concerns what programs and policies government ought to adopt. What would this morality look like in a disenchanted world, one in which rationality prevails? The enchanted world is extensive, including not just religion but traditional morality.
In this book, Edmund Abegg constructs a coherent path that leads from abstract psychological and moral theory to ideal political and economic scenarios and then to their real-world applications, which for him are in terms of national political goals. These goals, individual autonomy and welfare, function as political morality in this new framework in place of traditional mythical ideas such as justice. Descriptive chapters on our current world indicate that these goals are in play, if only partly.
Concerning these national moral-political goals, which may be domestic or international, the crucial distinction he seeks to establish is between aggregated or big-picture goals and individualized goals. The latter are typically seen as establishing individual rights.
This book establishes a framework that clarifies important public policy issues in a way not possible if a jungle growth of myth envelopes our efforts with confusion and unnecessary controversies.

Details

University Press of America

Pages: 260 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7618-6152-2 • Hardback • June 2013 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-0-7618-6153-9 • eBook • June 2013 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Essays, Philosophy / Political, Political Science / Commentary & Opinion, Political Science / Utopias

Author

Edmund Abegg earned a master’s degree in history from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. He is now professor emeritus of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He has published articles on philosophy of history, ethics, and political morality.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I The Philosophical Framework
1 Belief-Desire Psychology
2 Metaethics
3 Normative Ethics

Part II Ideal Theory: Morality and Polity
4 Political Morality
5 Governments of Polities
6 International Morality and Governments
7 Economies

Part III The Real World: Morality and Polity
8 Real-World Political Morality
9 Real-World Economies
10 Conclusion: What Is To Be Done?

References

Index

Reviews

This is an ambitious, comprehensive, and very impressive book. In Political Morality in a Disenchanted World, Edmund Abegg draws out the implications of accepting moral non-realism. . . . Along the way, believers in the disenchanted world (naturalistic cosmos) will find a psychologized and non-deontological ethics, a careful examination of freedom versus welfare, and a rejection of the mythical principles of justice and equality. This book, cogently argued and fair in its assessments, will interest not only naturalists, but non-naturalists and social theorists across a wide spectrum.
— Richard Double, professor emeritus, philosophy, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

Political Morality in a Disenchanted World is an impressive effort to place moral and political life on a firm but realistic foundation, one that is less vulnerable than traditional moral foundations to appropriation by dogmatists for purposes that too often turn violent or exploitative.
— Sharon R. Krause, Professor of Political Science, Brown University

Political Morality in a Disenchanted World

Edmund Abegg

Political Morality in a Disenchanted World

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