Casuistry and modern ethics : a poetics of practical reasoning / Richard B. Miller.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-302) and index.

Introduction: Casuistry, Politics, and Moral Complexity -- Ch. 1. The Occasions of Casuistry -- Ch. 2. Justice, Complicity, and the War against Iraq -- Ch. 3. The Case against the Case against Liberalism -- Ch. 4. Romantic Casuistry, Holiness, and the Art of Separation -- Ch. 5. Popular Catholicism, Humanae vitae, and Ideology in Casuistry -- Ch. 6. On Transplanting Human Fetal Tissue -- Ch. 7. The Case of Violent Pornography: Mimetic Nihilism and the Eclipse of Differences -- Ch. 8. On Not Keeping Religious Studies Pure -- Ch. 9. Casuistry, Poetics, and Rhetoric.

Did the Gulf War defend moral principle or Western oil interests? Is violent pornography an act of free speech or an act of violence against women? In Casuistry and Modern Ethics, Richard B. Miller sheds new light on the potential of casuistry - case-based reasoning - for resolving these and other questions of conscience raised by the practical quandaries of modern life. Rejecting the packaging of moral experience within simple descriptions and inflexible principles, Miller argues instead for identifying and making sense of the ethically salient features of individual cases. Because this practical approach must cope with a diverse array of experiences, Miller draws on a wide variety of diagnostic tools from such fields as philosophy of science, legal reasoning, theology, literary theory, hermeneutics, and moral philosophy. Opening new avenues for practical reasoning, Miller's interdisciplinary work will challenge scholars who are interested in the intersections of ethics and political philosophy, cultural criticism, and debates about method in religion and morality.