Moral strangers, moral acquaintance, and moral friends : connectedness and its conditions /

This book expands on the author's previous work (Suffering and the Beneficent Community, CH, Mar'92, and Freedom and Community, 1993). It defends in a clear and persuasive voice the necessity to move beyond libertarian moral minimalism. Specifically, Loewy (bioethics, Univ. of California, Davis) argues that any being that can suffer has moral worth, that nature and community have fundamental worth because they are necessary conditions for any possible valuing, that communities are corporate individuals with obligations to other communities and individuals, and that the tension between moral entities (individual or corporate) is best understood as a homeostatic relationship. One of his friendly targets is H.T Engelhardt's libertarian Bioethics and Secular Humanism (CH, Feb'92). Loewy makes a convincing case that radical individualism cannot be sustained. His book contains many examples drawn from the real world; these give it a concrete relevance. This book is a welcome antidote to a world eager to define others as strangers. Strongly recommended for general and undergraduate libraries. H. Oberdiek Swarthmore College