Skip to main content

Moral Community and Moral Order

The Intensive and Extensive Limits of Interaction

  • Chapter
Ethics and Animals

Part of the book series: Contemporary Issues in Biomedicine, Ethics, and Society ((CIBES))

Abstract

In a paper presented at a 1978 conference under the same sponsorship at this one, I argued that human moral capacity, defined as the potential outreach of one’s moralistic behavior toward others of the species, are stretched beyond tolerance limits in modern political settings (Buchanan, 1978). Humans are called upon to “care about” unknown persons with whom they have no means of identification, and with whom they share no common loyalty to external symbolic entities capable of stirring emotions. Thrust involuntarily into such settings, modern people necessarily behave so as to further their own narrowly defined self-interest. I inferred from this essentially empirical hypothesis that the moral potential of humankind could only be exploited if the institutions of political interaction were to be reconstructed so as to correspond more closely with the limits of the human moral “community.”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1983 The HUMANA Press Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Buchanan, J.M. (1983). Moral Community and Moral Order. In: Miller, H.B., Williams, W.H. (eds) Ethics and Animals. Contemporary Issues in Biomedicine, Ethics, and Society. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5623-6_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5623-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-053-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5623-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics