Sentience and sensibility : a conversation about moral philosophy /

Silliman (Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) examines "multicriterial value incrementalism," his preferred moral theory, using a dialogue format. This work includes an epilogue about the importance of moral theory in general, an appendix (coauthored with David K. Johnson) that discusses the theory, and a "cast of concepts and characters" to help better understand the dialogue. The book's purpose is "to discover a conceptual structure that can reconcile and account for" an important set of moral intuitions. The views defended are in some ways similar to those defended by Peter Singer, although the author is unwilling to endorse utilitarianism because "morality as lived cannot be exhausted by reference to a single, simple criterion," and because "it seems to us that there is not a single overarching criterion for settling moral questions." Although written in dialogue format, this volume is intended for any "patient and educated person," rather than primarily for undergraduates. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. H. Spence Adrian College

Silliman (philosophy, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts) presents an engaging introduction to moral philosophy written in the form of a dialog between "Manuel Kant" and "Harriet Taylor." These characters develop a theory of value incrementalism according to which the value of an object depends on how far it has progressed toward self-consciousness. Thus, plants are more valuable than stones, lower animals are more valuable than plants, and higher animals are more valuable than lower animals. Human beings, with full self-consciousness, rank highest. Silliman does not mean by this that humans have no duties to entities lower on the scale; to the contrary, he believes everything has "moral considerability" as its level of complexity warrants. Working from this theory, Silliman discusses abortion, environmentalism, and vegetarianism. He posits that morality is based on human sentiments-it is not "out there in the world" completely independent of human beings. By no means, though, does this imply moral relativism. Valuable supplementary reading in courses on ethics; recommended for larger collections.-David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.