DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Post-Ethical Society

The Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, and the Moral Failure of the Secular

Alexander Jenkins author Alexander G Nikolaev author Douglas V Porpora author Julia Hagemann May author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:18th Oct '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Post-Ethical Society cover

We've all seen the images from Abu Ghraib: stress positions, US soldiers kneeling on the heads of prisoners, and dehumanizing pyramids formed from black-hooded bodies. We have watched officials elected to our highest offices defend enhanced interrogation in terms of efficacy and justify drone strikes in terms of retribution and deterrence. But the mainstream secular media rarely addresses the morality of these choices, leaving us to ask individually: Is this right? In this singular examination of the American discourse over war and torture, Douglas V. Porpora, Alexander Nikolaev, Julia Hagemann May, and Alexander Jenkins investigate the opinion pages of American newspapers, television commentary, and online discussion groups to offer the first empirical study of the national conversation about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the revelations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib a year later. Post-Ethical Society is not just another shot fired in the ongoing culture war between conservatives and liberals, but a pensive and ethically engaged reflection of America's feelings about itself and our actions as a nation. And while many writers and commentators have opined about our moral place in the world, the vast amount of empirical data amassed in Post-Ethical Society sets it apart - and makes its findings that much more damning.

"Timely and topical, Post-Ethical Society contributes to ongoing national soul-searching about who we are and how we want to go about sorting out our proper role in the world. This is not mere armchair philosophizing. Here we are presented with totally solid, historical, publicly accessible, empirical data on subjects of major national and international importance. I'm very impressed." (Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame)"

ISBN: 9780226062495

Dimensions: 24mm x 16mm x 3mm

Weight: 539g

264 pages