ABSTRACT
This chapter considers contemporary challenges to the traditional ways of thinking about ethics we have outlined in the first five chapters. First, the challenges of postmodernism derive from questioning some of the basic premises of the whole enterprise. Feminist ethical theory represents a second trend, challenging traditional reasoning about ethics exemplified by modernists such as Kant, utilitarians, and consequentialists. One of the major challenges includes the ethics of care, which differs from an ethics of duty in that personal relationships become centrally relevant to ethical decision making. The Enlightenment followed by the colonial expansions of the states of Northern Europe have given to the notion of the “Modern” a Eurocentric flavor. Other related theories represent reactions against the Eurocentric dominance, such as Southern Theory as well as various forms of Postcolonial Theory. Other related movements, often embracing a postmodern stance, include those calling for racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, peace, anti-globalism (especially in economic and trade matters), and green environmentalist groups.
