Philosophy
I try not to make this blog about me, but today I'm going to indulge a bit and ask your opinion on something.
I started this blog at the time I was writing a manuscript for a pop ethics/politics book designed to respond to the then common notion that anyone with a homophobic agenda was a "values voter" which was a clear contrast to anyone who cared about, oh I don't know, helping the needy, protecting the environment, defending the rights of minorities, standing up for just and fair treatment under the law for everyone was clearly not someone who put moral values into his or her political views.
That manuscript, for which I have a draft, was never picked up. The response from a number of publishers was that they didn't see the natural connection between ethics and politics. They liked the voice and the style, but the political side seemed forced. Add to that the fact that in the last two and half years, the social/political climate has changed considerably, the manuscript as written seems a bit out-dated.
I'm rethinking the project in a couple ways. It was written with a bit of a sharper, snarkier tone aimed at the Daily Show crowd, but I'm planning on making it less overtly partisan, still political, but not in your face about it, and smoothing the prose out a bit, giving it more the feel of my writing here which tends to be more Mr. Rogers than Chris Rock. It'll be a book that will be a popular introduction to moral deliberation with a discussion of contemporary ethical issues that anyone could pick up and enjoy and learn from, but which could possibly also serve as an intro level course text. Edutainment is really what I have in mind.
So what I want from you folks is your thoughts on the new proposed title:
The title of the old project, "Was It Morally Good For You, Too?" will be recycled as the chapter title for the chapter on the morality of sex and/or marriage.
So, what do you think of the title and what issues would you think belong in such a book?
- The Playground Is Closed
This is my 2,000th and final post at the Philosophers' Playground. It's been six and a half years of almost daily entertainment posing questions and provocative theses for you folks to bat around. It was during a sabbatical when my...
- So What Are These Ethical Issues Around Gay Marriage?
With North Carolina's enshrinement of bigotry into their state constitution and Obama's evolution to accepting the need for gay men and lesbians to receive fair and equal treatment under the law, there has been lots of talk about the ethical dilemma...
- Ramesh Ponnuru Is An Asshole (in The Technical Sense Of The Word--personally, He's Most Likely A Nice Fellow, Never Met Him So I Can't Really Say)
Jon Stewart's interview last night with Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review editor and author of Party of Death, was magnificent. One of the points he so wonderfully put forward is that anyone using hyperbolic rhetoric and claiming that difficult moral...
- How Did Ethics Get Reduced To Abortion?
Aspazia, over at Mad Melancholic Feminista, asks a good question -- do anti-abortionists use the same logic as racists? The answer is, in part, yes. The explanation of that answer related to another interesting and seemingly obvious question that no one...
- The Rise Of Politically-infected Pseudo-ethics-speak
Before we talk about ethics, we need to look at the the crap that passes for ethical discourse in the media. To be clear, there is a huge difference between real moral consideration and the politically-infected pseudo-ethics speak that we get bombarded...
Philosophy
Whatdayathink?
I try not to make this blog about me, but today I'm going to indulge a bit and ask your opinion on something.
I started this blog at the time I was writing a manuscript for a pop ethics/politics book designed to respond to the then common notion that anyone with a homophobic agenda was a "values voter" which was a clear contrast to anyone who cared about, oh I don't know, helping the needy, protecting the environment, defending the rights of minorities, standing up for just and fair treatment under the law for everyone was clearly not someone who put moral values into his or her political views.
That manuscript, for which I have a draft, was never picked up. The response from a number of publishers was that they didn't see the natural connection between ethics and politics. They liked the voice and the style, but the political side seemed forced. Add to that the fact that in the last two and half years, the social/political climate has changed considerably, the manuscript as written seems a bit out-dated.
I'm rethinking the project in a couple ways. It was written with a bit of a sharper, snarkier tone aimed at the Daily Show crowd, but I'm planning on making it less overtly partisan, still political, but not in your face about it, and smoothing the prose out a bit, giving it more the feel of my writing here which tends to be more Mr. Rogers than Chris Rock. It'll be a book that will be a popular introduction to moral deliberation with a discussion of contemporary ethical issues that anyone could pick up and enjoy and learn from, but which could possibly also serve as an intro level course text. Edutainment is really what I have in mind.
So what I want from you folks is your thoughts on the new proposed title:
Open-Minded Morality: How to Think Rationally about Ethics without the High HorseWhat do you think? Better ideas? Too wordy? Thoughts?
The title of the old project, "Was It Morally Good For You, Too?" will be recycled as the chapter title for the chapter on the morality of sex and/or marriage.
So, what do you think of the title and what issues would you think belong in such a book?
- The Playground Is Closed
This is my 2,000th and final post at the Philosophers' Playground. It's been six and a half years of almost daily entertainment posing questions and provocative theses for you folks to bat around. It was during a sabbatical when my...
- So What Are These Ethical Issues Around Gay Marriage?
With North Carolina's enshrinement of bigotry into their state constitution and Obama's evolution to accepting the need for gay men and lesbians to receive fair and equal treatment under the law, there has been lots of talk about the ethical dilemma...
- Ramesh Ponnuru Is An Asshole (in The Technical Sense Of The Word--personally, He's Most Likely A Nice Fellow, Never Met Him So I Can't Really Say)
Jon Stewart's interview last night with Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review editor and author of Party of Death, was magnificent. One of the points he so wonderfully put forward is that anyone using hyperbolic rhetoric and claiming that difficult moral...
- How Did Ethics Get Reduced To Abortion?
Aspazia, over at Mad Melancholic Feminista, asks a good question -- do anti-abortionists use the same logic as racists? The answer is, in part, yes. The explanation of that answer related to another interesting and seemingly obvious question that no one...
- The Rise Of Politically-infected Pseudo-ethics-speak
Before we talk about ethics, we need to look at the the crap that passes for ethical discourse in the media. To be clear, there is a huge difference between real moral consideration and the politically-infected pseudo-ethics speak that we get bombarded...