Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

238 MARTIN MCKEEVER
cyclical has to say about Revelation, epistemology and cultural
change has profound relevance precisely for morality. In fact, a
good case could be made for arguing that one of the central concerns
of Fides et ratio is the way in which morality has been affected
by sweeping cultural change.
The cultural change referred to in the encyclical is in the
first instance what we might call modernity, meaning by this
word the whole gamut of economic, political, social and philosophical
mutations which have been in evidence since the Enlightenment.
Given the broader theme of the encyclical, the aspect
of modernity which receives most attention is philosophical
thought, particularly in its relation to christian faith. While this
remains a primary focus of the encyclical, there is no doubt that
the more recent form of cultural change which is referred to as
postmodernity also constitutes a major source of preoccupation.
Both in general philosophical terms and in specifically moral
terms postmodernism is seen as an ambiguous phenomenon
which threatens to undermine confidence in reason and drive
contemporary society into nihilistic attitudes.
It is ironic that among the many postmodernist authors who
write passionately about moral questions, there are so few who
attempt to articulate a systematic account of ethics. Perhaps such
a project appears inherently recidivist to the postmodern mind in
that it is held to repeat the modernist mistake of trying to impose
rational schemes on chaotic human reality. Whatever of that,
amid the oceanic bibliography on postmodernism there is a noticeable
dearth of studies which spell out the implications of postmodernism
for ethics as a discipline. 2 The result is that one is gen-
2 A selection of studies which at least broach the subject, albeit in diverse
perspectives, might include: LEVINAS, E. Etica come filosofia prima (Milano:Guerini,
1991); MÜLLER, D. L’éthique protestante dans la crise de la
modernité (Paris: Les éditions du cerf, 1999); VATTIMO, G. Etica de la interpretación
(Buenos Aires:Paidos, 1992); KEARNY, R. “Ethics and the Postmodern
Imagination” in Thought: A Review of Culture and Ideas, 62:224 (1987)
39-58; FRATALONE, R. “Etica teologica e le istanze della postmodernità” in
Quaderni di Synaxis10, Prospettive etiche nella postmodernità (Milano:San
Paolo, 1994) 52-82; MCKEEVER, M. “Postmodern with a difference: Simone
Weil’s ethico-theological critique of totalitarianism in L’enracinement” in
Studia Moralia 37 (1999) 185-214.