Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists Book

How many books are there that defend idealism? Susan Neiman gives a philosophical context for talking about idealism between the extremes of relativism and postmodernism on the left, and realism on the right.

The moral absolutes of religion have lost their influence. Relativism holds that one view is as good as another, and thus none has any special claim. Realism, as in Realpolitik, holds that we have to deal with the world as it is, rather than as we would wish it to be. Against this, Neiman argues that "the world can be improved by means of ideals expressing states of reality that are better than the ones we currently experience."

In concrete terms, she argues for specific moral values, such as reason, reverence and hope, and she describes individuals who have acted inspite of the ambiguities of the age, such as a man leading joint projects of Palestinians and Israelis on the West Bank, and a woman working to rectify the war damage to civilians in Afghanistan. The arguments are persuasive and the examples are inspiring.