Michael Pritchard's study of individual morality is set in the
trenches, in the valley of life itself. The moral agent he
describes is real, not one of the rarified, rational characters
portrayed in most ethics texts. Thus the view of morality Pritchard
presents in these eleven essays is pluralistic, complex, and
down-to-earth.
Pritchard rejects the premise that moral development begins in
self-interest, citing evidence of empathy and moral connectedness
in very young children. He provides a deliberate and convincing
argument for a new starting point for the discussion of moral
development, one in which self-interest and empathy are innate and
equally essential groundings for individual morality. He then
builds a comprehensive framework for tracing moral development that
allows human morality to be grounded in both reason and emotion,
and recognizes the importance to morality of justice and rights as
well as caring and responsibility.
Pritchard's work is both a product of and a contribution to the
field of moral psychology that began in the 1960s as a blending of
philosophical theories on morality and ethics with insights from
psychological theory on human development and moral behavior.
Through his essays run the common threads of moral education, the
complexity of ingredients and influences in moral life, and the
concept of personal integrity.
"Pritchard displays a remarkable, and sometimes ingenious,
sensitivity to the fabric of the moral life. Reading through this
work is rather like being on a moral 'dig' where one precious gem
after the other is turned up. . . . It deals with the moral life as
it is actually lived. Virtually any person on the street could
identify with Pritchard's moral agents, whereas the moral agents in
the texts of most philosophers turn out to be rarified creatures
that no one would ever supposed had walked the earth. . . .
Pritchard's discussion of Kohlberg is masterful and extraordinarily
subtle--a most important and very significant addition to the
literature on this central figure in moral development. The chapter
"Accountability, Understanding, and Sentiments" is a
ground-breaking piece."--Laurence Thomas, author of "Living
Morally: A Psychology of Moral Character."
"Offers a thoughtful, imaginative, and responsible consideration
of a broad range of issues in ethics that have engaged contemporary
philosophers and psychologists."--Gareth Matthews, author of
"Philosophy and the Young Child" and "Dialogues with Young
Children."
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