ABSTRACT
Dennis C. Rasmussen is as committed to methodological moderation as he is to moderation in all other matters. Moral pluralism is one of the key commitments of Rasmussen's Pragmatic Enlightenment. Like all moderate positions, it can be understood as the virtuous mean between two vicious extremes. The first of these vices, moral universalism, is part of the standard caricature of the Enlightenment. The second of the relevant vices, moral relativism, is the now-widespread view that there are no universally binding ethical principles whatsoever, and hence no grounds for criticizing one set of principles from the perspective of another. To a universalistic, imperialistic, radical, and rationalist Enlightenment, Rasmussen interprets the work of David Hume, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire to highlight a morally and politically pluralistic, moderate, and pragmatic Enlightenment. While Israel is on the side of the radicals, Rasmussen is on the side of the moderates.
