Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Wade Rowland on his new publication Morality by Design. The eleven short, linked essays represent a culmination of two decades of research and writing on the topic of moral realism.
The readers are first introduced to the basic ideas of leading moral thinkers: from Plato to Leibniz to Putnam. He then explores the subject through today’s political, economic, and environmental conundrums.
“The collection presents a strong argument against postmodern moral relativism and the idea that only science can claim a body of reliable fact; challenges currently fashionable notions of the perfectibility of human individuals—and even the human species—through technology; and argues for the validity of common sense.
In guiding the reader through Enlightenment-era rationalist thought as it pertained to human nature and the foundations of morality, Rowland provides a coherent, intellectually sound, and intuitively appealing alternative to the nihilistic views popularized by contemporary radical relativism. Morality by Design ultimately seeks to convince readers that there is such a thing as moral fact, and that they do indeed have what it takes to make robust and durable moral judgments.”