Moral Failure

Tessman's depth of moral vision and argument is inspiring and demands patient study. She brings different areas of philosophy into conversation in order to produce a rich and detailed account of dilemmatic morality. Others have appealed to the phenomenology of these challenging situations, but Tessman's descriptions are fuller, and her explanations more comprehensive. ... Her book is necessary reading for intuitive pluralists who want to justify their intimations, and for anyone who has breezily appealed to 'ought implies can' while flinching at the tragic aspects of moral experience. * Luke Brunning, Journal of Moral Philosophy *
This book is extremely rich ... This is a provocative, original book, one that ought to be read by anyone interested in the question of what moral theory is and what it could be. * Regina Rini, Mind *
... engaging and thought-provoking volume, Tessman has made an important and stimulating contribution to the debate about moral dilemmas that anyone concerned with moral philosophy should read. * Christopher W. Gowans, Ethics *
Moral Failure is an intricate book that makes use of many more complicated and interconnected arguments than can be covered in much detail here, but Tessman expertly navigates the relevant prominent debates and carefully assembles the component pieces of her overall argument by drawing upon a wide range of philosophical and empirical resources. * Brandon D. C. Fenton, Metapsychology *
It is remarkably original, a highly engaging read, which achieves what the best philosophy books do: Tessman breaks open sets of questions that reinvigorate old debates and place new ones on the table ... it is a potentially, and hopefully, discipline-changing book for those working in normative moral philosophy. * Theresa Tobin, Hypatia Reviews *
Insightful, illuminating book that provides a fine example of the benefits of engaging in moral theory in a way that pays attention to moral experience. This book is essential reading for anyone working on the issue of moral dilemmas and is recommended to anyone interested in moral philosophy. * Philosophical Quarterly *
Recommended. * Choice *
Tessman's book is outstanding in its originality, controlled and precise in its continuous argumentation, and extraordinarily provocative in its main thesis. The book is an unsettling, even startling, view of the moral situation of human beings as inevitably tragic. ...At many points I found it revelatory and refreshing, breaking crusts of orthodoxy with unexpected insights. At some points I found it stunning; I struggled with the implications of these carefully wrought arguments because of the disturbing vision they support. This book has the potential to open up, and seems to aim principally at opening up, a new set of discussions within metaethics about the nature and limits of moral theorizing. It also bears on normative theory about the nature of our values, our self-understanding and burdens as responsible agents, and how we should address significant injustice or evil in the world. * Margaret Urban Walker, Marquette University *
In this remarkably original book, metaethics, empirical moral psychology, political philosophy, and feminist theory fall into place like puzzle pieces, revealing a neglected and profound problem for moral agency: the inevitability of our own moral failure. The message is sobering, but never despairing, and it serves as a welcome corrective to theories of moral deliberation that are overly idealistic or simplistic. Tessman sets an exemplary standard by forging a theory that is attentively and insightfully grounded in actual evaluative practices. * Jesse Prinz, The Graduate Center, City University of New York *
thoroughly important and thought-provoking text * Paul Butterfield, Dialectica *