The moral theory of poststructuralism /

Developing several ideas from his previous book, The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism (CH, Mar'95), May ambitiously attempts to frame a moral theory that, while compatible with the central ideas of poststructuralism (specifically, Foucault's, Deleuze's, and Lyotard's), nevertheless engages the central questions and debates of Anglo-American moral theory. What results is an account of "multivalue consequentialism" that, May argues, both avoids many of the problems of leading Anglo-American moral theories (deontological, virtue-ethical, and single-value consequentialist) and is consistent with his construction of a moral principle based on the poststructuralist critique of representation. While reconstructing and responding to arguments of Boyd, Dworkin, Railton, McDowell, Scanlon, Scheffler, Slote, Wiggins, and others, May argues that a poststructuralist political philosophy advocating an aesthetics of living--one that cultivates several freedoms--can be conjoined to a moral theory that imposes minimal obligations concerning what we ought to do. Tightly argued, this work will interest upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who wish to see how one could participate in the central debates within Anglo-American moral theory while retaining some of the political assumptions of poststructuralism. Recommended for all academic libraries supporting courses in ethics and moral theory. A. D. Schrift; Grinnell College