Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics by Margaret Urban Walker


Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics
Title : Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0195315405
ISBN-10 : 9780195315400
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 328
Publication : First published November 30, 1990

This is a revised edition of Walker's well-known book in feminist ethics first published in 1997. Walker's book proposes a view of morality and an approach to ethical theory which uses the critical insights of feminism and race theory to rethink the epistemological and moral position of the ethical theorist, and how moral theory is inescapably shaped by culture and history. The main gist of her book is that morality is embodied in "practices of responsibility" that express our identities, values, and connections to others in socially patterned ways. Thus ethical theory needs to be empirically informed and politically critical to avoid reiterating forms of socially entrenched bias. Responsible ethical theory should reveal and question the moral significance of social differences. The book engages with, and challenges, the work of contemporary analytic philosophers in ethics.

Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics Reviews

  • Emily Anderson

    What a magnificent read! Dense and challenging but that is expected from a philosophy book. Walker takes the time to expand on several aspects of the human condition and the complex webs that are relationships which seems to be missing in the conventional approach to morality. It took me a few months to read, partially because I don't have formal philosophy training, (although I don't think it's absolutely necessary in this case) but mostly because of how powerful these ideas were and how much they resonated with my experience.

    For me, her writing was clear in laying out her arguments, included quotes at the beginning of each chapter as a preview to the topic, brought in other philosopher's views in both support and opposition to her points, and also discussed parts of morality that never crossed my mind before this (stories and integrity, the importance of truth telling, unnecessary identities, and life as an individual plan or project).

    This was an empowering and perspective changing book for me.

    Here is a quote from the end of the book I found to be hopeful:
    "This volume is itself an exercise in transparency...It is meant to trouble us about whose experience we might be failing to consider or are implicitly demoting as beneath philosophical interest. It is meant to make us notice how often our practices of responsibility do not cohere with how we say we live...and useful for a critical and constructive moral practice that touches how we, all of us, actually live." (pg. 268)

  • Neil Harmon

    I will start by saying that this book isn't easy to read. This was a primary text for a graduate course in justice and it was a lot of work to slog through. I would not have continued for pleasure... But... In the end, the work was worth it. The book contains some great insights into how injustice and oppression work as well as how effective repairs might be made. In this time, insights in this area are crucial. When coupled with books like, "The new Jim Crow", one will end up with both the facts and history as well as an understanding of the structural underpinnings that maintain unjust systems. I used the information in this book over and over during my class and I'm sure it will continue to be useful.