Morality's Muddy Waters

by Cotkin, George

• ISBN13: 9780812242270
• ISBN10: 0812242270
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-25
• Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

Summary

In the face of an uncertain and dangerous world, Americans yearn for a firm moral compass, a clear set of ethical guidelines. But as history shows, by reducing complex situations to simple cases of right or wrong we often go astray. InMorality's Muddy Waters, historian George Cotkin offers a clarion call on behalf of moral complexity. Revisiting several defining moments in the twentieth century-the American bombing of civilians during World War II, the My Lai massacre, racism in the South, capital punishment, the invasion of Iraq-Cotkin chronicles how historical figures have grappled with the problem of evil and moral responsibility-sometimes successfully, oftentimes not. In the process, he offers a wide-ranging tour of modern American history. Taken together, Cotkin maintains, these episodes reveal that the central concepts of morality-evil, empathy, and virtue-are both necessary and troubling. Without empathy, for example, we fail to inhabit the world of others; with it, we sometimes elevate individual suffering over political complexities. For Cotkin, close historical analysis may help reenergize these concepts for ethical thinking and acting.Morality's Muddy Watersargues for a moral turn in the way we study and think about history, maintaining that even when answers to ethical dilemmas prove elusive, the act of grappling with them is invaluable.

Author Biography

George Cotkin is Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University and the author of several books, including Existential America and William James: Public Philosopher.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The Problems of Evil	p. 7
In Times of War
A Sky That Never Cared Less	p. 35
The Moral Mystery of My Lai	p. 77
In Times of Peace
The Hate Stare: Empathy and Moral Luck	p. 113
Just Rewards? Capital Punishment	p. 135
Present Problems
Muddiness and Moral Clarity: The Iraqi Situation	p. 169
Conclusion: Torture and the Tortured	p. 200
Notes	p. 207
Index	p. 251
Acknowledgments	p. 261
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