Americans increasingly cite moral values as a factor in how they
vote, but when we define morality simply in terms of a voter's
position on gay marriage and abortion, we lose sight of the ethical
decisions that guide our everyday lives. In our encounters with
friends, family members, nature, and nonhuman creatures, we
practice a nonutilitarian morality that makes sacrifice a rational
and reasonable choice. Recognizing these everyday ethics, Anna L.
Peterson argues, helps us move past the seemingly irreconcilable
conflicts of culture and refocus on issues that affect real social
change.
Peterson begins by divining a "second language" for personal and
political values, a vocabulary derived from the loving and mutually
beneficial relationships of daily life. Even if our interactions
with others are fleeting and fragmentary, they provide a viable
alternative to the contractual and atomistic attitudes of
mainstream culture. Everyday ethics point toward a more just,
humane, and sustainable society, and to acknowledge moments of
grace in our daily encounters is to realize a different way of
relating to people and nonhuman nature--an alternative ethic to
cynicism and rank consumerism. In redefining the parameters of
morality, Peterson enables us to make fundamental problems such as
the distribution of wealth, the use of public land and natural
resources, labor and employment policy, and the character of
political institutions the preferred focus of debate and
action.
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