Revisiting Universalism [Hardcover]

This book begins from the premise, which it seeks to elaborate, that the poorest human being shares with the richest, a natural nature. This, it is claimed, is not the trivial thesis it is sometimes represented as being. Rather, significant moral consequences flow from the assumption that all human beings share a set of natural needs. Using this starting point, the book also seeks to defend an objectivist epistemology.Acknowledgements Introduction Why Pluralism? Forms of Universalism and Monism Common Human Nature: An Empty Concept? Moral Obligations Arising From Needs Needs and the Imagination Bodies and Dualism Feminist Epistemology and Value Conclusion

'Exciting, challenging, engaging, clear: this book provides a fresh approach to the urgent issue of justice in a divided world.' - Morwenna Griffiths, Professor of Educational Research, Nottingham Trent University, UK

'Alison Assiter has written a very accessible book...which offers a useful counterpoint to the literature on multiculturalism, as well as developing a thesis that resonates with the 'ethical turn' in a considerable amount of contemporary social thought.' - Keith Tester, School of Social, Historical & Literary Studies, University of Portsmouth, UK

ALISON ASSITER is Assistant Vice-Chancellor at the University of the West of England, UK, and Pro-Dean in the faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science. She has previously worked in a number of other universities, in a range of roles. Her publications include: Enlightened Women (1996); Bad Girls, Dirty Pictures (co-editor with A. Carol, 1993); Althusser and Feminism (1990); and Pornography, Feminism and the Individual (1989).