New directions in the anthropology of morality

Abstract

In this article we seek to develop a common theoretical language and stake out particular positions on key issues in the growing debates about the anthropological study of morality. First, we advocate for a pluralistic stance in approaches to moral variation – one that maintains the possibility of moral realism and at times even argues explicitly for it. Second, we work to define the domain of morality in more detail, especially in its relation to other domains of experience, including personhood, emotion, and life course. Third, we argue for a new approach to the issues of freedom and moral action. Together, these arguments articulate key conceptual areas of concern for anthropologists interested in morality, and we suggest some theoretical stances on each of them.