Poverty and Morality
Religious and Secular Perspectives

Explores the ways that many influential ethical traditions wrestle with the moral dimensions of poverty.

William A. Galston (Edited by), Peter H. Hoffenberg (Edited by)

9780521127349, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 September 2010

330 pages, 11 b/w illus. 6 tables
22.6 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.49 kg

'Poverty and Morality: Religious and Secular Perspectives is a thoughtful and engaging book on an important subject. It will be of interest to people in a wide variety of disciplines, including philosophy, comparative ethics, political theory, and development studies. The individual essays are clearly written, interesting as stand-alone pieces, but especially instructive because they are set in the context of other traditions' treatment of these same questions. Poverty and Morality offers a wealth of rich, detailed arguments on how different traditions have framed ethical issues connected to poverty, which is very instructive, given the current debates on global justice. Throughout this volume, the various authors not only connect the authoritative texts and assumptions of various different ethical traditions with the political and intellectual world in which they were writing, but also address the perennial questions of the scope of our responsibility to ourselves and others, which are raised by the existence of the poor in our midst.' Margaret Moore, Queen's University, Canada

This multi-authored book explores the ways that many influential ethical traditions - secular and religious, Western and non-Western - wrestle with the moral dimensions of poverty and the needs of the poor. These traditions include Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, among the religious perspectives; classical liberalism, feminism, liberal-egalitarianism, and Marxism, among the secular; and natural law, which might be claimed by both. The basic questions addressed by each of these traditions are linked to several overarching themes: what poverty is, the particular vulnerabilities of high-risk groups, responsibility for the occurrence of poverty, preferred remedies, how responsibility for its alleviation is distributed, and priorities in the delivery of assistance. This volume features an introduction to the types, scope, and causes of poverty in the modern world and concludes with Michael Walzer's broadly conceived commentary, which provides a direct comparison of the presented views and makes suggestions for further study and policy.

1. Introduction William A. Galston and Peter H. Hoffenberg
2. Global poverty and uneven development Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
3. The karma of poverty: a Buddhist perspective David R. Loy
4. Poverty and morality in Christianity Kent A. Van Til
5. Classical liberalism, poverty, and morality Tom G. Palmer
6. Confucian perspectives on poverty and morality Peter Nosco
7. Poverty and morality: a feminist perspective Nancy J. Hirschmann
8. Hinduism and poverty Arvind Sharma
9. The problem of poverty in Islamic ethics Sohail H. Hashmi
10. Jewish perspectives on poverty Noam Zohar
11. Liberal egalitarianism and poverty Darrel Moellendorf
12. Marxism and poverty Andrew Levine
13. Poverty and natural law Stephen J. Pope
14. Afterword Michael Walzer.

Subject Areas: Poverty & unemployment [JFFA], Religion & beliefs [HR], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]