Arguing for a Better World

Philosopher Arianne Shahvisi explains how we can understand, identify, and defend our positions on today’s most controversial moral questions in this illuminating and accessible work of popular philosophy.

Is it sexist to say that “men are trash”? Can white people be victims of racism? Do we bear any individual responsibility for climate change?

We’ve all wrestled with questions like these ones, whether we’re shouting at a relative across the dinner table, whispering to a friend over drinks, or finding ourselves in the midst of a heated Twitter feud. Many people give automatic answers that roughly align with the broader position they believe is right, but flounder when asked to detail their reasoning, leading to a conversational stalemate—especially when there is a political, generational, or cultural divide involved.

The truth is that our answers to these questions almost always rely on unexamined assumptions that lurk below the surface of our consciousness. This means that where there’s disagreement, we can rarely even make out its real source—relinquishing any hope of resolving it or understanding it. And if we can’t even understand our own positions, how can we ever persuade someone else?

In Arguing for a Better World, philosopher Arianne Shahvisi shows us how to work through thorny moral questions by taking them apart and examining their parts in broad daylight, equipping us to not only identify our own positions but to defend them as well. Not just for philosophers, this book is for anyone who wants to learn how and why to fight for justice and liberation for all.