Parables in times of moral conflict : how to persuade your neighbour as yourself / John Perry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Perry, John, 1976- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics.

Debates and debating.

Discussion.

debates.

ethics (philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

Why do our most important moral debates seem to go so badly? Sometimes, of course, trolls or manipulative influencers undermine good-faith conversations, where people get 'destroyed' on TikTok and 'schooled' on Instagram, but often these debates go badly for a more mundane reason: they are hard work and it takes practice to get good at them. Part I relays the bad news about these fights: the old peace plans will not help us. In Part II, the author uncovers a canon of 'parables', thought experiments or analogies, that can help humanize and rationalize our discussions before our violent passions take over. Some of these parables are well-known and some are less well-known. Perry tackles controversial issues like marriage, euthanasia, public reason, and the Bible, all with a mix of sensitivity and good humour.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

1 Speaking, Fast and Slow

2 Ethics without Sugar Tongs

3 Four Themes: Parables, Peace Plans, Practice, and Relish

1 Introduction: Meeting Moral Strangers

1.1 Laura

1.2 Parables

1.3 The Calm Optimism of Thinking, Fast and Slow

1.4 Thinking, Calm and Violent

1.5 The Fragility of Judgement

1.6 Plan of the Book

1.7 For Scholars of Other Disciplines

1.7.a For Political Theorists: Public Reason

1.7.b For Historians of Ideas: Modernity as a Theological Crisis.

1.7.c For Moral Psychologists: Moral Sense and Tribalism

1.7.d For Theologians and Scholars of Religion: Theology's New Boldness

2 The Bottom of the Disease: Lessons from the First Modern Culture Wars

2.1 Relish Pluralism

2.2 'This Made Him in Love with Geometry'

2.3 'The Bottom of the Disease'

2.4 Locke's Epidemiology: A Culture Wars Cast of Characters

2.4.a Men of Fair Minds

2.4.b Dairymaids and Day Labourers

2.4.c Men of Plentiful Fortune but Lazy Minds

2.4.d Enthusiasts

2.5 'Practice Makes It What It Is'

2.6 Parables on the Practice Field.

Part I Three Old Peace Plans: Ideology, Rationalism, Secularism

3 Black Rhino

3.1 Cast of Characters

3.1.a The Hunter: Corey Knowlton

3.1.b The Conservationist: Richard Leakey

3.1.c Guides: Steph Joubert and Benjamin Scraver

3.2 Three Old Peace Plans

3.2.a Ideology: Winning Gets in the Way

3.2.b Rationalism: Feelings Get in the Way

3.2.c Secularism: God Gets in the Way

4 Winning Gets in the Way: When Getting Slightly Better is Enough

4.1 #LoveWins

4.2 Hunter's Culture War Hypothesis: Phoney War or Cold War?

4.3 When Getting Slightly Better is Enough.

4.3.a Understand Myself

4.3.b Understand Others

4.3.c Rarely Persuade but Always Fairly

5 Feelings Get in the Way: Cognitive Science and the Recovery of Moral Taste

5.1 Meeting Moral Strangers

5.2 The Rise of Empirical Ethics

5.3 The Poison of Enthusiasm and the Promise of Newton

5.4 Speculations Scarcely Understood

5.5 The Case for Something Like Maths

5.5.a The Sheriff and Posse

5.5.b Relish-Yet Again

5.6 The Case for Something Like Taste

5.6.a Automatic Cameras

5.6.b Moral Tribes

5.6.c Elephants and Riders

5.6.d The Deontological Diner.

5.7 Sentimentalism: An Intellectual Accident Waiting to Happen?

5.7.a Objective Enough? Spreading Moral Meaning

5.7.b Normative Enough? 'Like Sugar Tongs'

5.7.c Action-Guiding Enough? Giving Up on Monism

6 God Gets in the Way: Why Public Reason Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

6.1 Two Concepts of Offside

6.2 Bad Idea, Right?

6.3 Before Modern Religious Freedom

6.4 Early Anglo-American Religious Freedom

6.5 Johannine Liberalism: The Rules of the Park and the Rules of the Game

6.6 The Beginning of the End of Public Reason: The Liberal-Communitarian Debate.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (Oxford Academic, viewed on July 7, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version : Perry, John, 1976- arables in times of moral conflict.

ISBN:

9780198994879

0198994877

OCLC:

1574608414

Publisher Number:

CIPO000359222

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license