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Although buoyed by the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, Furrow (philosophy, San Diego Mesa College) warns that preventing a resurgence of conservatism requires understanding why it has been attractive, why liberalism failed to mount an effective defense in recent years, and how liberal values must evolve in the coming years. He argues that conservatives have been better at articulating a moral, if dangerous, philosophy of stalwart individualist confrontation with evil that speaks to voters as a way to construct a moral identity, whereas liberals have failed to counter with their own comprehensive narrative that serve as a locus of moral identity. This failure to articulate moral commitments is rooted in the liberal concern to protect individual liberty and tolerance, he argues, but in spite of that it is necessary to rebuild liberalism's moral credentials by articulating the connections between a culture of responsibility, social justice, and individual aspirations to lead good lives. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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In this fresh assessment of the liberal perspective on politics, philosopher Dwight Furrow explains how liberalism lost its moral credentials in the face of challenges from conservatives. He articulates a new way of understanding the moral foundations of liberalism that will restore its political fortunes along with America’s shattered moral authority. A work of popular philosophy, Reviving the Left is written in a serious but lively, engaging, and often polemical style.Furrow begins by noting that political ideologies have the power to motivate people because they embody conceptions of how to live. Conservatives have understood this more clearly than liberals, who for too long have relied on bureaucratic solutions and interest-group politics, which have lacked moral credibility and passion. Now more than ever, says Furrow, progressive politics, if it is to move people hungry for change, needs a new vision that will give birth to a more substantial liberal moral identity.Furrow takes conservatism to task for promoting what he labels "a culture of cynical, violent narcissism." But rather than praising the liberalism of the past, he argues that liberals must radically revise their conception of moral value in order to reverse the damage left behind by many years of conservative rule. Reviving the Left argues that liberals must build a culture of caring from the ground up by giving social institutions incentives to encourage a more prominent role in public life for empathy, compassion, and responsibility. Only in such a culture will liberal political initiatives have a chance to succeed in the long run.Unlike many books on reviving liberalism, which emphasize economics, policy debates, or political strategies, Furrow’s Reviving the Left uniquely focuses on moral values and their philosophical underpinnings. Furrow’s extensive use of references to popular culture, especially well-known films, and also topics of current political discourse makes for an exciting, contemporary rethinking of the liberal perspective with widespread appeal.
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