Varieties of Ethical Reflection

Book excerpt: Varieties of Ethical Reflection brings together new cultural and religious perspectives--drawn from non-Western, primarily Asian, philosophical sources--to globalize the contemporary discussion of theoretical and applied ethics. The work pushes ethics beyond a Western philosophical tradition tending toward universalism to infuse and broaden modern ethical theory with relativistic Asian ethical principles. The contributors introduce multicultural concepts and ideas from the Chinese Taoist, Confucian and Neo-Confucian, Indian and East Asian Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, focusing on such areas of moral controversy as the clash between women's rights and culture; universal human rights; abortion and euthanasia in a non-Western setting; and the standardization of medical practice across cultures.