Dialogue, as a literary form for philosophical investigation, has been largely dormant for a couple of millenia, punctuated only by brief resurgences (e.g.: the Renaissance, the Eighteenth Century). Yet it is by far the most natural and inviting way to explore philosophical questions, as witness the perennial appeal of Plato’s Socratic dialogues. This book attempts to embody and stimulate careful philosophy among people who may or may not have experience of academic philosophy, but who are concerned with moral questions and seek a method for thinking clearly about them. I am most interested in comments from those who, in reading the book, wish to take the conversation further. The specific provisional conclusions that my characters Manuel and Harriet draw are less important than the process by which they draw them, so I hope for comment that responds to that spirit of dialogue.
There will be a reading at Papyri Books in North Adams on January 13th, 7pm.
–Matt Silliman
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1 MCLA Blog » Praise MCLA Philosophy Professor Silliman’s latest book // Dec 20, 2006 at 1:08 pm
[…] This is just a sampling of the reviews of Sentience and Sensibility, a book this blog highlighted several weeks a go. “[Sentience and Sensibility] is a lively philosophical dialogue on the moral status of living things, human and otherwise. The protagonist defends a multi-level account on which we have direct moral obligations to all and only sentient beings, but stronger obligations to those who are self-conscious to some degree than to those that are barely sentient. We also have stronger duties to beings (such as ourselves) who are reflectively self-conscious than to most nonhuman animals; however, for practical as well as ethical reasons, infants and mentally disabled persons have essentially the same full moral status as mentally competent human adults. The view is well defended, and yields plausible conclusions about such questions as whether we ought to be vegetarians, and whether abortion is always or sometimes morally wrong. The dialogue format adds dramatic interest and guides the reader through the complexities of the subject. It enables the objections and responses to be forcefully expressed and answered, but within a context of mutual respect. These features make it useful for either graduate or undergraduate ethics courses, as well as a general readership. It will be of interest to anyone who has been troubled by the ambiguous moral status of nonhuman animals, human embryos and fetuses, and other puzzling cases.” Mary Anne Warren Philosophy, San Francisco State University Author, Moral Status (Oxford University Press, 2000) […]
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