Ethics and Community

This book is a comprehensive introductory approach to what liberation theology has to say about ethics and morals. Dussel begins by making a fundamental distinction between two types of ethical systems: community ethics and social morality. The first grows out of a central concern with community; the second out of isolated individualism. Dussel first poses ten questions basic to a discussion of ethics (on good and evil; personal and social sin; relative morals and absolute ethics, and others). Next, he examines ten contemporary issues requiring an ethical stance, among them: labor and the work ethic; capitalism and socialism; the arms race; and Third World debt and dependency. Rigorous in design and scholarship, yet clear and accessibly written, Ethics and Community offers the first single, systematic treatment of an ethics rooted, as liberation theology is rooted, in the concerns of the poor of Latin America--and the world. ""A creative, provocative, and very rich essay, where sound scholarship meets a deep faith commitment to the liberation of the oppressed, a keen knowledge of the social, economic, cultural, and political situation of the Third World, a sympathetic sensitivity to readers from the most diverse backgrounds, and--last but by no means least--a daring capacity to approach old and new problems from innovative, unusual angles."" --Otto Maduro, Drew University Enrique Dussel, a leading figure in liberation theology, studied philosophy and church history in Madrid, Paris, and Mainz. He holds doctorates in both philosophy and history. A political refugee from his native Argentina, Dussel now lives and teaches in Mexico. He is a committee member for the theological review Concilium, and president of the Comision de Estudios de Historia de la Iglesia en Latinamerica (CEHILA). His other books include Philosophy of Liberation.