The Moral Sense, James Q. Wilson
The Moral Sense, James Q. Wilson
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The Moral Sense

Author: James Q. Wilson

Narrator: Wanda McCaddon

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/22/2005

Categories: Nonfiction, Philosophy


Synopsis

Virtue has acquired a bad name, says Wilson, but it is nevertheless what we are referring to when we discuss a person's character, such as whether someone is kind, friendly, or loyal. Although we may disguise the language of morality as a language of personality, it is still, in Wilson's words, "the language of virtue and vice." Says the author, "This book is not an effort to state or justify moral rules; that is, it is not a book of philosophy. Rather, it is an effort to clarify what ordinary people mean when they speak of their moral feelings and to explain, insofar as one can, the origins of those feelings."

About James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson is James Collins professor of management and public policy at UCLA. Winner of the 1990, James Madison Award of the American Political Science Association, he is also the author of Moral Judgement.

About Wanda McCaddon

Wanda McCaddon (d. 2023) narrated well over six hundred titles for major audiobook publishers, sometimes with the pseudonym Nadia May or Donada Peters. She earned the prestigious Audio Award for best narration and numerous Earphones Awards. She was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tania on August 20, 2011

I normally wouldn't give a book that is this slow such a high rating. Some of the chapters are longer than they need to be. Despite that, Wilson's argument is so interesting that it is worth struggling through some rather difficult writing to try to understand it. Wilson is making a very conservativ......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on December 29, 2012

I first heard of Dr. Wilson after recently reading glowing obituaries in many respected publications. His teaching and publications have been influential to many better known authorities. As I am a psychiatrist working with emotionally disturbed adolescents, I felt I should know his work better. I h......more

Goodreads review by Wil on July 19, 2014

It seems strange to me that anyone would doubt the existence of a moral sense. Do these doubters not have a moral sense? If they do have a moral sense then how can they doubt the existence of something they themselves have? If you do not have a moral sense yourself then this book gives objective evi......more

Goodreads review by Feng on November 01, 2017

The theme of the book is that there are universal moral senses among human. Therefore, the notion that everything depends on the culture (culture relativism) is wrong. The book argues this point by looking at some basic components of moral, such as sympathy, fairness, self-control and duty. The auth......more

Goodreads review by Nick on December 08, 2023

A well reasoned cautious book with a thesis that went against the intellectual grain but really shouldn’t. The moral sense is actually multiple senses: sympathy, fairness, self-control, and duty that encompass what various philosophers from Aristotle to Adam Smith counted as virtues. However modern......more


Quotes

“James Q. Wilson has taken an unfashionable but undeniably crucial question about moral nature and produced a bracing, elegant, carefully researched and closely argued controversy. Everyone should read it.” Michael Crichton

“A lucid, elegant, magisterial and controversial essay.” Publishers Weekly

“With this book James Q. Wilson rescues ‘morality’ from the hype and carping of partisan interests…he provides terms by which people of widely divergent perspectives can address common problems anew. The Moral Sense makes a singular—and for our generation, decisively important—contribution.” James Davison Hunter, author of Culture Wars

“Utterly intriguing…there’s nothing doctrinaire or simplistic in Wilson’s critique of our current wisdoms…Wilson manages to take sociology out of the realm of theory without reducing it to policy. A refreshing and timely work.” Kirkus Reviews

“The masterful synthesis of data from many disciplines makes this an essential title for any academic or public library serving an intellectual clientele.” Library Journal