Liberty, Equality & Law

by Sterling M. McMurrin

The major moral issues of our time have been made vital and immediate by the convergence of numerous factors. Among these are a technology that has produced the threat of nuclear holocaust, that can maintain life beyond the death of the brain, that can destroy the natural world, and that produces deadly, indestructible waste. There is a new sensitivity to the injustices suffered by minorities. Impoverishment and starvation are now the fate of millions. Political tyranny is a continuing threat. Finally, the rise of a new religiousness has had an impact on morals and public affairs. In these provocative essays chosen from The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, four internationally distinguished scholars explore the moral implications of these issues in today's world.

216 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of four articles by prominent philosophical thinkers: John Rawls, Charles Fried, Amartya Sen, and Thomas Schelling. By far my favorite is Schelling’s piece. It’s a very original question, and I found it to be accessibly written (as compared to Rawls’, which was almost half the book, assumed the reader had prior knowledge of his work, and was the very epitome of unnecessarily complicated academic language). Beyond that, I don’t think there’s much to say. For someone like me who’s a philosophy nerd this is an interesting series of articles, but none of the authors are bringing anything terribly original to the table – even in Schelling’s case, where he discusses our fluid sense of self when it comes to controlling our own behavior, the article is deeply entrenched in Western assumptions and philosophy, and there’s little in the way of moving beyond that.