Moral Psychology: Feminist Ethics and Social Theory

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Moral psychology studies the features of cognition, judgement, perception, and emotion that make human beings capable of moral action. Perspectives from feminist and race theory immensely enrich moral psychology. Writers who take these perspectives ask questions about mind, feeling, and action in contexts of social difference and unequal power and opportunity. These essays by a distinguished international cast of philosophers explore moral psychology as it connects to social life, scientific studies, and literature.

Reviews

Not only does this volume contain fascinating original essays well worth reading in their own right, it also makes a case, as a whole, for thinking about moral psychology as a central theme within ethics. As Margaret Walker argues in the Introduction, emotion, thought, action, and responsbility constitute the how of ethics. If we take it seriously, this approach transforms the study of ethics. This book is thus indispensable for those thinking about how 'ethics' affects the world. -- Joan Tronto
These essays push the envelope of moral psychology so hard that the reader is forced to rethink what she takes moral psychology to be. * Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy *
For anyone with an interest in moral psychology this volume will prove both enlightening and provocative. Furthermore, at a time when philosophy's relationship to other fields, notably psychology, is both contested and in flux, it is especially exciting to have a collection of essays that persuasively demonstrates philosophy's distinctive contribution to mapping our moral lives. It is, of course, no accident that this demonstration is provided by essays that, while ranging widely in topic and tone, are specifically feminist, and hence informed by the model of interdisciplinarity provided by feminist theory. -- Naomi Scheman, professor of philosophy and women's studies, University of Minnesota

Author Bio

Peggy DesAutels is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Dayton. Margaret Urban Walker is Lincoln Professor of Ethics, Justice, and the Public Sphere at Arizona State University.