Common Values
Sissela Bok explores the question of which moral values are shared across national, ethnic, religious, and cultural boundaries in Common Values. Written in a cogent and lucid style that reaches out to the reader, Common Values combines moral theory with practical ethics to demonstrate how these moral values are applied across all facets of life. By overcoming the formidable obstacles of psychological predisposition and cultural prejudice, Common Values can indeed exist in harmony with cultural diversity while providing the basis for dialog, negotiation, and cooperation at all levels of human interaction.
Bok defines many areas where divergent cultures share the same basic ethical framework accepted by every viable society in order to survive collectively. This work defines those values that have been established by human societies throughout history, together with those that are held in common by virtually all human beings. She makes a convincing argument that there are certain values and standards of ethical conduct which are shared across cultures, values that coexist successfully with the respective cultural diversities.
