Developing Moral Sensitivity by Deborah Mower

Developing Moral Sensitivity by Deborah Mower

Moral sensitivity affects whether and how we see others, note moral concerns, respond with delicacy, and navigate complex social interactions. Scholars from a variety of fields explore the concept of moral sensitivity and how it develops, beginning with a natural moral capacity for sensitivity towards others that is shaped in a variety of ways through relationships, forms of teaching, and social institutions. Each of these influences alters the capacity as well as one’s responses in complex ways. The concept of moral sensitivity deepens as progressive chapters demonstrate its increasing complexity through development within individuals, over time, as they mature, and as their relationships and social contexts expand. The chapters integrate research from philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, literature, education, and media and technology studies, with key chapters by Darcia Narváez, Nancy E. Snow, Michael S. Pritchard, and Stephen J. Thoma and a Foreword by Owen Flanagan. It is the only comprehensive presentation of interdisciplinary work on moral sensitivity that integrates a theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical analysis. This highly interdisciplinary approach provides a new way of thinking about the relationship of individuals to society and moral sensitivity as a social phenomenon, extending current research in ethics, moral psychology, and psychology toward situated, embodied, and contextual analyses.

"Developing Moral Sensitivity fills a critical lacuna in existing research and practiceWe would all do well to have a clearer sense of how to best develop moral sensitivity given the essential role it plays in facilitating moral action. This is essential reading for anyone interested in moral psychology, ethics, and generally being a better person." —Lisa Kretz, University of Evansville, USA

Deborah S. Mower is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Youngstown State University, USA.

Phyllis Vandenberg is Professor of Philosophy at Grand Valley State University, USA

Wade L. Robison is the Ezra A. Hale Professor of Applied Ethics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.