Larry May

Stacey Hoffman

This anthology presents the best recent philosophical analyses of moral, political, and legal responsibility of groups and their members. Motivated by reflection on such events as the Holocaust, the exploding Ford Pintos, the My Lai massacre, and apartheid in South Africa, the essays consider two important questions: What collective efforts could have prevented these large-scale social harms? And is some group to blame and, if so, how is blame to be apportioned? Contributors:

Five Decades of Debate in Theoretical and Applied Ethics

Collective Responsibility

Christine T. Sistare

Jonathan Schonsheck

Voters as well as ethicists and legal experts are currently debating many of the issues inherent in balancing individual with majority and minority group rights, though often, there seems to be an inverse correlation between the two. May (Washington U.) chairs lively multidisciplinary discussions on: the (in)compatibility of liberty and equality (with responsibility being the wild card); law, morality, and limits on liberty (in regard to freedom of speech, poverty, taxation, and assisted suicide); and equality and the clash of cultures (in cases of hate speech, and religious freedom vs. refusal of medical treatment). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Liberty, Equality, and Plurality

Leslie Francis

In matters such as affirmative action or home schooling, rights of ethnic and other minority groups often come into conflict with those of society in a culturally diverse population such as ours. But before considering the dilemmas posed by these issues, we must first ask such basic but important questions as what group rights are and how they intersect with the principles of democracy. This new collection brings together some of today's leading thinkers from the cutting edge of these debates, taking in a broad range of issues confronting philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists. Contributors such as Carl Wellman, Carol Gould, and Rex Martin examine the nature of groups and the conflict between group rights and democracy and also consider case studies depicting current issues in cultural, ethnic, and religious rights. The first section, on the nature of groups, examines some of the perplexing alternatives in the formulation of a theory of group rights. These articles investigate the kinds of rights minorities might claim and ask when groups can be held responsible for the acts of some of their members. The second section addresses the treatment of groups in a democracy and the precarious balance between indifference toward minorities and capitulation to their demands. Here the contributors examine five principles for the sensitive treatment of minority and disadvantaged groups in a democratic society. A final section explores specific conflicts between subgroup and societal claims through case studies dealing with affirmative action, religious practice and the education of children, and the land rights of indigenous peoples. By drawing on the legal and political dilemmas related to these cases, the authors confront issues of core versus peripheral interests, of individual member versus subgroup rights, and of the possibilities for social openness raised in the preceding sections Written from varied perspectives, Groups and Group Rights offers stimulating reading for both students and professionals as it takes on some of the most pressing dilemmas confronting our society.

Groups and Group Rights

Andy Clark

Marilyn Friedman

The essays in this anthology deal with the growing interconnections between moral philosophy and research that draws upon neuroscience, developmental psychology, and evolutionary biology. The essays in this anthology deal with the growing interconnections between moral philosophy and research that draws upon neuroscience, developmental psychology, and evolutionary biology. This cross-disciplinary interchange coincides, not accidentally, with the renewed interest in ethical naturalism. In order to understand the nature and limits of moral reasoning, many new ethical naturalists look to cognitive science for an account of how people actually reason. At the same time, many cognitive scientists have become increasingly interested in moral reasoning as a complex form of human cognition that challenges their theoretical models. The result of this collaborative, and often critical, interchange is an exciting intellectual ferment at the frontiers of research into human mentality. Sections and Contributors Ethics Naturalized, Owen Flanagan, Mark L. Johnson, Virginia Held - Moral Judgments, Representations, and Prototypes, Paul M. Churchland, Andy Clark, Peggy DesAutels, Ruth Garrett Millikan - Moral Emotions, Robert M. Gordon, Alvin I. Goldman, John Deigh, Naomi Scheman - Agency and Responsibility James P. Sterba, Susan Khin-Zaw, Helen E. Longino, Michael E. Bratman A Bradford Book

Essays on Cognitive Science and Ethics

Mind and Morals

"Nearly four thousand years ago, kings in various ancient societies, especially in Mesopotamia (contemporary Iraq), faced a crisis of major proportions. Large portions of the population were horribly in debt, many being forced to sell themselves or their children into slavery to pay off their debts. The laws and customs seemed to support the commercial practices that allowed lenders to charge 20%-30% interest, and the law protected the lenders and gave no recourse for the indebted. Strict justice called for the creditors to receive what they were due. But another legal concept, the emerging idea of equity, seemed to call for a different result - the use of law as a vehicle to free people from economic oppression. Debt relief edicts were instituted - "clean-slate laws" as they were known - and are of obvious relevance today as well where crushing debt is a major issue underlying social inequality"--

Equity, Justice, and Humaneness From Hammurabi and the Pharaohs to Justinian and the Talmud

Ancient Legal Thought

Patrick D. Hopkins

Robert A. Strikwerda

Are men naturally aggressive? What makes a good father? How can men form intimate friendships? In the new edition of this popular anthology, seventeen philosophers explore these and other questions that relate to what it means to be a man, including questions about pornography and homosexuality. New essays look at masculinity and violence, research on differences between men's and women's brains, impotence, sexual ambiguity, and whether black men have a moral duty to marry black women.

Philosophical Explorations in Light of Feminism

Rethinking Masculinity

What does it mean to be a morally responsible man? Psychology and the law have offered reasons to excuse men for acting aggressively. In these philosophically reflective essays, Larry May argues against standard accounts of traditional male behavior, discussing male anger, paternity, pornography, rape, sexual harassment, the exclusion of women, and what he terms the myth of uncontrollable male sexuality. While refuting the platitudes of the popular men's movement, his book challenges men to reassess and change behavior that has had detrimental effects on the lives of women and of men. In May's view, the key to solving many problems is to understand how individual actions may combine to produce large-scale, harmful consequences. May is eager to reconceptualize male roles in ways that build on men's strength rather than rendering them androgynous. Each chapter in his book suggests strategies to effect changes based on May's views on the nature of moral responsibility. Examining separatism and the socialization of youth in athletics and the military, specifically at Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel, May analyzes the moral implications of the way all-male environments are constructed. Rejecting the standard arguments for them, he speculates about the positive ways they might be used to transform the socialization of young men.

Masculinity and Morality

Elizabeth Edenberg

This collection of essays explores the legal and moral questions that arise at the end of war and in the transition to less oppressive regimes.

Jus Post Bellum and Transitional Justice

Andrew Forcehimes

Leading legal, political and moral theorists discuss the normative issues that arise when war concludes and when a society strives to regain peace.

Morality, Jus Post Bellum, and International Law

Thomas Hobbes wrote extensively about law and was strongly influenced by developments and debates among lawyers of his day. And Hobbes is considered by many commentators to be one of the first legal positivists. Yet there is no book in English that focuses on Hobbes's legal philosophy. Indeed, Hobbes's own book length treatment of law, A Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England, has also not received much commentary over the centuries. Larry May seeks to fill the gap in the literature by addressing Hobbes's legal philosophy directly, and comparing Leviathan to the Dialogue, as he offers a new interpretation of Hobbes's views about the connections among law, politics, and morality. May argues that Hobbes is much more amenable to moral, and even legal, limits on the law—indeed closer to Lon Fuller than to today's legal positivists—than he is often portrayed. He shows that Hobbes's views can provide a solid grounding for the rules of war and international relations generally, contrary to the near universal belief that Hobbes is the bête noir of international law. To support these views, May holds that Hobbes places greater weight on equity than on justice, and that understanding the role of equity is the key to his legal philosophy. Equity also is the moral concept that provides restrictions on what a sovereign can legitimately do, and if violated is the kind of limitation on sovereignty that could open the door for possible international institutions.

Hobbes on Law and International Affairs

Limiting Leviathan

This is the first book-length treatment of justice after war ends. Larry May combines here both philosophical and legal analysis.

A Philosophical Perspective

After War Ends

W Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science Vanderbilt University Larry May

Larry May argues that socially responsive individuals need not be self-sacrificing or overly conscientious. According to May, a person's integrity and moral responsibility are shaped and limited not just by conscience but also by socialization and moral support from the communities to which he or she belongs. Applying his theory of responsibility to professional ethics, May contends that current methods of professional socialization should be changed so that professionals are not expected to ignore considerations of personal well-being, family, or community. For instance, lawyers should not place client loyalty above concerns for the common good; doctors should not place the physical well-being of patients above their mental and spiritual well-being; scientists and engineers should not feel obliged to blow the whistle on fraud and corruption unless their professional groups protect them from retaliation. This book should prove provocative reading for philosophers, political scientists, social theorists, professionals of many stripes, and ethicists.

Social Theory and Professional Ethics

The Socially Responsive Self

A comprehensive exploration of contemporary debates in Just War Theory, addressing moral, political, and legal issues.

The Cambridge Handbook of the Just War

K. Parsons

J. Stiff

The papers in this book have been collected in celebration of Carl Wellman, who, after forty-five years, is retiring from teaching. Here I would like to highlight a few of the moments which have shaped Carl as a person and a philosopher. Although his childhood was not unhappy, Carl faced considerable challenges growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire. He ne ver knew his father; he and his mother, Carolyn, had little money; and he fought a long battle with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, an illness which made hirn more familiar with hospitals than any young person should be. (His mother once told me that there were times when the doctors put Carl in his own hospital room because, while he was too young to be housed with adult men, they did not want the other children to see hirn die. ) Following a year of physician-prescribed rest after high school, the doctors recommended the University of Arizona in the misguided hope that the desert climate might improve his health. In spite of the doctors' hopes, life in Tucson was not easy. The heat takes its toll on everyone, but the desert was especially oppressive for Carl since his unusually sensitive eyes were no match for the intense sun. Still, Carl enjoyed college.

Essays in Honor of Carl Wellman

Rights and Reason

War crimes are international crimes committed during armed conflict. Larry May argues that the best way to understand war crimes is as crimes against humanness rather than as violations of justice. Throughout, May demonstrates that the principle of humanness in the cornerstone of international humanitarian law, and is itself the basis of the traditional principles of discrimination, necessity, and proportionality.

War Crimes and Just War

Thomas Hobbes wrote extensively about law and was strongly influenced by developments and debates among lawyers of his day; he is considered by many commentators to be one of the first legal positivists. Yet there is no book in English that focuses on Hobbes's legal philosophy. Larry May seeks to fill the gap in the literature by addressing Hobbes's legal philosophy directly, and comparing Leviathan to the Dialogue, as he offers a newinterpretation of Hobbes's views about the connections among law, politics, and morality. He argues that Hobbes is much more amenable to moral, and even legal, limits on the law than he is often portrayed, and shows that Hobbes'sviews can provide a solid grounding for the rules of war and international relations.

Jeff Brown

Philosophy of Law provides a rich overview of the diverse theoretical justifications for our legal rules, systems, and practices. Utilizes the work of both classical and contemporary philosophers to illuminate the relationship between law and morality Introduces students to the philosophical underpinnings of International Law and its increasing importance as we face globalization Features concrete examples in the form of cases significant to the evolution of law Contrasts Anglo-American law with foreign institutions and practices such as those in China, Japan, India, Ireland and Canada Incorporates diverse perspectives on the philosophy of law ranging from canonical material to feminist theory, critical theory, postmodernism, and critical race theory

Classic and Contemporary Readings

Philosophy of Law

Jerome Kohn

This collection of essays brings Arendt's work into dialogue with contemporaryphilosophical views.

Larry May

Books

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