The Demoralization of Western Culture

There is a continuing popular debate in the Western world about values, and in particular those values by which we conduct our private lives. This debate reflects a genuine confusion about morality; it seems that we are more unsure about where right and wrong may lie than at any previous point in our history. In The Demoralization of Western Culture Ralph Fevre undertakes an explanation of these difficulties. He argues that their most important source lies in the popularity of a particular sort of reasoning; a subcategory of rationality called 'common sense' which came to dominate our thinking during the twentieth century. He looks at why this sort of reasoning has proved so persuasive and so much more powerful than the alternative modes of thinking offered by those who want to resist it. Drawing on evidence from surveys, polls, journalism and various forms of cultural commentary, as well as works of social theory, The Demoralization of Western Culture breaks free of the conventions of academic social science, moving instead into the territory of public philosophy. This is a tradition which, the author argues, forces us to engage in ethical reflection as well as the simple evaluation of argument.