Abstract
“Why would you want to write about that? Everybody knows that stuff.” Such was my mother’s response when I told her that I had embarked on a book about morality. From her perspective, the subject was transparent. There was simply nothing that could be said that was not already common knowledge. Some years later I had a conversation with Alan Wolfe, the distinguished social critic, during which he casually remarked that many of his colleagues were puzzled when he first broached the idea of conducting a study of middle-class values. Why, they wondered, would he want to do that? Wasn’t his time too valuable to squander on such well trod territory? He went ahead nonetheless because, as he explained, he decided that it was the right thing to do.
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Notes and References
Fulghum, R. (1988). All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things. New York: Villard Books.
The classical statement of the socially constructed nature of moral (and religious) rules is provided by: Durkheim, E. (1915). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: The Free Press. Also see: Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral Education. New York: The Free Press.
Perhaps the most influential recent champion of moral knowledge was: Moore, G. E. (1929). Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Broader in influence and earlier in time was: Kant, 1. (1949). Critique of Practical Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
For the clearest formulation of this concept see: Wilson, J. Q. (1993). The Moral Sense. New York: The Free Press.
Currently sliding from favor, but the strongest formulation of a moral judgment perspective was: Kohlberg. (1986). The Stages of Ethical Development. New York: Harper & Row. See also: Thomas, R. M. (1997). Moral Development Theories—Secular and Religious. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press: and Windmiller, M., Lambert, N. & Turiel, E., (Eds.) (1980). Moral Development and Socialization. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
For a practitioner’s view of evolutionary psychology see: Alexander, R. D. (1987). The Biology of Moral Systems. New York: Aldine. For a more popularized and comprehensive version see: Wright, R. (1994). The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Pantheon Books.
Harris, W.H. & Levey, J. S. (Eds.) (1975). The New Columbia Encyclopedia: 4th Edition. New York: Columbia University Press.
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For a general history of the movelemt consult: Martin, E. J. (1978). A History of the Iconoclastic Controversy. New York: AMS Press.
An extreme form of protestant iconoclasm is found among the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are so adamant that they refused to salute the American flag on the theory that it was a graven image. It took a ruling of the Supreme Court to grant them this right. See: Kors, A. C. & Silverglate, H. A. (1998). The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses. New York: The Free Press.
For a psychological analysis see: Lewis, M. & Saarni, C. (Eds.) (1993). Lying and Deception in Everyday Life. New York: Guilford Press.
For a history see: Gump, J. O. (1994). The Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux. Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Press.
An account of Truman’s decision making process is found in: McCullough, D. (1992). Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster. For an overview see: Baker, P. R. (Ed.) (1968). The Atomic Bomb: The Great Decision. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
A good biography is available in: Lomask, M. (1982). Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy and Years of Exile 1805–1836. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
A charming satirical prespective on vegitarianism is included in: Ellenbogen, G. (Ed.) (1986). Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
For an introduction to Kevorkian’s philosophy see: Betzold, M. (1993). Appointment with Dr. Death. Troy, Mich: Momentum Books.
See: Wright, A. (1964). Confucianism and Chinese Civilization. New York: Atheneum.
Maclntyre, A. (1981). After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Gertrude Himmelfarb makes a similar point, contrasting Greek, Christian, and Victorian virtues. She also presents a nice thumbnail sketch of the evolution of moral thinking from “virtues” to “values.” See: Himmelfarb, G. (1995). The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modem Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Franklin, B. (1950). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Modern Library.
Bennett, W. J. (Ed.) (1993). The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Greer, C. & Kohl, H. (1995). A Call to Character. New York: HarperCollins.
Included in: op cit.
Included in: Ibid.
For the government’s own assessment of this phenomenon and its need for protection see: U.S. General Accounting Office (1993). Whistleblower Protection. Washington, D.C.
Included in: Kohl, H. (1995) A Call to Character. New York: HarperCollins op cit.
For a sociological analysis of the functions of anger see: Fein, M. (1993). I.A.M.: A Common Sense Guide to Coping with Anger. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Lyman, S. M. (1989). The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall.
The groundbreaking analysis of science as a social process is: Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Among the exposes of sciences nonscientific ways are: Dewdney, A. K. (1997). Yes, We Have No Neutrons: An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Bad Science. New York: John Wiley & Sons; Gable, J. & Sica, A. (Eds.) (1998). Ideologies and the Corruption of Thought. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction; Hamilton, R. F. (1996). The Social Misconstruction of Reality: Validity and Verification in the Scholarly Community. New Haven: Yale University Press; and Cromer, A. (1997). Connected Knowledge: Science, Philosophy, and Education. New York: Oxford University Press.
For a history see: Payne, R. (1965). The Rise and Fall of Stalin. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Boas, F. (1928). Anthropology and Modern Life. New York: Dover.
A fascinating discussion of a variety of social practices is found in: Harris, M. (1974). Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. New York: Random House.
The standard formulation of ethical relativism is by: Westermarck, E. (1960). Ethical Relativity. Paterson, NJ: Littlefield, Adams.
Second only in importance as a disciple of Boas was: Benedict, R. (1934). Patterns of Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Mead, M. (1928). Coming of Age in Samoa. New York: William Morrow.
In his day Watson was the nation’s psychological guru. See: Buckley, K. W. (1989). Mechanical Man: John Broadus Watson and the Beginnings of Behaviorism. New York: The Guilford Press. Among his most influential advice books was: Watson, J. B. (1928). Psychological Care of Infant and Child. New York: Norton.
Discussed later in Chapter 4, Russell was very much part of the same movement as Mead. See: Russell, B. (1929). Marriage and Morals. New York: H. Liveright.
Freeman, D. (1996). Margaret Mead and the Heretic: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth. New York: Penguin Books.
Science keeps churning up moralized theories of how the world works. Among the more influential recent myths is that of self-esteem. It was supposed to be a sovereign cure for most of society’s ills. See: Hewitt, J. P. (1998). The Myth of Self-Esteem: Finding Happiness and Solving Problems in America. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Even more recent has been the exposure of Rigoberta Menchu. The recipient of a Nobel Prize in literature, she became an icon for politically correct academics until her story of being a poor Central American peasant was revealed as a fraud. See: Stoll, D. (1998). Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Menchu, R. 1984. 1 Rigoberta Menchu, an Indian Woman in Guatemala. Translated by Ann Wright. London Verso. Even the classic account of multiple personalities has been shown to have been grossly misleading. See: Schreiber, F. R. (1973). Sybil. Chicago: Regnery; Miller, M. & Kantrowitz. (1999). Unmasking Sybil. Newsweek, Jan. 25, pp.66–68.
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(1999). In the Name of Morality. In: The Limits of Idealism. Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-29601-2_2
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