Richard Amesbury | Claremont School of Theology

Post-Enlightenment philosophy rejects the aspiration to step outside language and practice in order to view their conformity to reality from “sideways on.” Consequently – it has been argued – we ought to regard ourselves as answerable to one another, rather than to the world or the moral law. But in rejecting the notion of objectivity in favor of a purely epistemic conception of validity, Amesbury contends, we forfeit important resources required for criticizing and reforming our respective societies. In Morality and Social Criticism, Amesbury brings recent developments in Anglo-American philosophy into engagement with dominant currents in contemporary European social theory in order to articulate a pragmatic account of moral criticism. Presented in a lively and accessible style, Morality and Social Criticism moves the debate over critical theory beyond the alternatives provided by discourse ethics and deconstruction by arguing for a conception of moral objectivity that is grounded in the discursive practice of reason exchange.

Acclaim for "Morality and Social Criticism":

"Richard Amesbury has produced an excellent book. . . . Amesbury’s central project is to preserve –- as Rorty’s pragmatism self-admittedly cannot –- the rationality of radical criticism within the spheres of moral, political and religious thought and action. In doing this he finds himself confronting issues that relate quite generally to the nature of rationality and these he takes to be linked inextricably to the philosophy of language and to be fundamentally logical. It is this that gives Amesbury’s book a much wider appeal than that of most books of its size on social philosophy. Its critical momentum is grounded on a conception of rule-following behaviour which gives primacy to normative practices, which in some sense, lie at the roots of human beings’ actions and, thus, of human societies."

-- Guy Stock, University of Dundee, "Philosophical Investigations" 31:4 (2008)

“Amesbury provides a solid reconstruction of recent attempts in continental philosophy to theorize in a nonfoundational way about the status and function of social norms. He takes a middle ground between the strongly universalizing theory of discourse ethics (Habermas) and the rejection of universality represented by deconstruction (Derrida and to some extent Rorty). Norms are thus neither platonically ahistorical nor mere contingent posits. With the help of Robert Brandom's recent pragmatic account of norms, Amesbury argues that they are implicit in practices; the philosophical task is simply to make them explicit. Thus he avoids the regress of norms found in a position he calls ‘regulism.’ But he does think that no ethical reasoning can be done without a backdrop of certain moral commitments about which ‘doubts do not ordinarily arise.’ This is the key assumption of his ‘ordinary realism.’ The hope is that such a realist model of reasoning about norms can lend strong support to critique of problematic norms in a society. The book is accessible to those who have a modicum of background in contemporary continental ethics, but experts will garner much from it as well.”

-- James C. Swindal, Duquesne University, "Choice" 43:5 (2006)

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Faith and Human Rights

Richard Amesbury and George M. Newlands

The UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as a highpoint of twentieth-century moral deliberation, yet sixty years later human rights are widely denied, evaded, or ignored around the world. Where are religious persons in this situation? Here a philosopher and a theologian address the issues with authority, clarity, and genuine passion in a way that does not spare religion or even religious people, who have been among the most egregious violators of human rights in the world.

Faith and Human Rights argues that the idea of human rights is not exclusively religious, but that its realization in practice requires urgent action on the part of people of all faiths – and of none. The authors contend that while faith has much of value to contribute here, the world’s religions will require vigilant reappraisal if they are to function as genuine partners in the global struggle for human dignity. Acknowledging the ambiguous moral legacy of their own tradition, Christianity, the authors draw on Christological themes to draft blueprints for a culturally sensitive “theology of human rights.”

Acclaim for "Faith and Human Rights":

"This is an admirable little book. It gives a clear and authoritative introduction to human rights thinking and the difficulties that arise in relating the universal horizon of human rights to the particular traditions represented by the world's religions. . . . As an introductory text, I don't think this could be bettered."

-- Nicholas Sagovsky, Westminster Abbey, "Theological Book Review" 20:2 (2008)

"The book is a very helpful starting point for Christians in general and theological students in particular seeking to think through Christianity and human rights"

-- Stephen Plant, University of Durham, "Theology" CXII: 865 (2009)

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