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The Diversity of Morals
How to make sense of the divergence between philosophers’ quest for a single morality and social scientists’ assumption that there are multiple moralities
When we speak of morals, what are we speaking of? Is morality singular (as many philosophers tend to assume, even if they don’t agree on what it is) or are there multiple moralities (which social scientists, notably anthropologists, study)? In The Diversity of Morals, Steven Lukes brings together these differing perspectives. Drawing on philosophy, sociology, social anthropology, psychology, and political theory, Lukes considers what the moral domain includes and what it excludes; how what is moral differs from what is conventional or customary in different contexts; whether morality is unified or a series of fragments; and, if there is a diversity of morals, what that diversity consists of.
Lukes looks both ways—toward philosophers’ quest for a single best answer to the question of morality and toward sociologists’ and anthropologists’ assumption that there are several, even many, even very many, answers—to make sense of their divergence. He traces the two approaches back to their beginnings, linking them to the differences between the ideas of David Hume, Johann Gottfried Herder and Adam Smith. Lukes examines how we went from viewing the social world as “us” versus “them” to thinking of morality as universal, envisioning shared humanity and the sacredness of the human person, and what prevents this vision from being realized. Considering the breakdown of moral constraints in the perpetration of mass atrocities, Lukes asks if there are phenomena that are beyond moral justification. And he raises this crucial in light of the vast variation that history and the ethnographic record display, how wide and how deep is the diversity of morals?
When we speak of morals, what are we speaking of? Is morality singular (as many philosophers tend to assume, even if they don’t agree on what it is) or are there multiple moralities (which social scientists, notably anthropologists, study)? In The Diversity of Morals, Steven Lukes brings together these differing perspectives. Drawing on philosophy, sociology, social anthropology, psychology, and political theory, Lukes considers what the moral domain includes and what it excludes; how what is moral differs from what is conventional or customary in different contexts; whether morality is unified or a series of fragments; and, if there is a diversity of morals, what that diversity consists of.
Lukes looks both ways—toward philosophers’ quest for a single best answer to the question of morality and toward sociologists’ and anthropologists’ assumption that there are several, even many, even very many, answers—to make sense of their divergence. He traces the two approaches back to their beginnings, linking them to the differences between the ideas of David Hume, Johann Gottfried Herder and Adam Smith. Lukes examines how we went from viewing the social world as “us” versus “them” to thinking of morality as universal, envisioning shared humanity and the sacredness of the human person, and what prevents this vision from being realized. Considering the breakdown of moral constraints in the perpetration of mass atrocities, Lukes asks if there are phenomena that are beyond moral justification. And he raises this crucial in light of the vast variation that history and the ethnographic record display, how wide and how deep is the diversity of morals?
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 9, 2025
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258 people want to read
About the author
Steven Lukes
37 books43 followersSteven Michael Lukes is a political and social theorist. Currently he is a professor of politics and sociology at New York University. He was formerly a professor at the University of Siena, the European University Institute (Florence) and the London School of Economics.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 28, 2026
Short and thought-provoking overview of ethics that uses the nominalization of philosophical ethics (which seeks an absolute) and sociological ethics (which recognizes diversity, the non-absolute) to explore various ethical positions in modern ethics. It does not seem to be making a specific argument, rather intimating towards a reconciliation of the two. I especially liked the last chapter which seems to lend itself towards diversity as more important and tangible than any absolute judgment to be had.
Few minor issues: the chapter on mass atrocities focuses almost exclusively on the holocaust. Fair, but what of the ongoing genocide in Gaza? The book was published in 2025 and Lukes references other events that occurred after 2023. Also, in talking about the holocaust, he doesn’t discuss the later formation of Israel and the multiple atrocities that Israel has committed since it became a nation, nor the displacement that this did to the other people who lived there. Is this not a mass atrocity itself?
It’s hard to walk away from the book with any sense of where to go, though I suppose the book is targeted at the initiated who don’t need direction from the book itself.
The bibliography is great- I added a few books to follow up on from it.
Also funny that the author discusses Adam Smith at length, when I read Smith’s book on morals last year, so the content was still somewhat fresh in my mind and I was able to appreciate the discussion better.
Aside: Nietzsche is a dumbass, cannot stand how often he is brought up still in any discussion period.
Few minor issues: the chapter on mass atrocities focuses almost exclusively on the holocaust. Fair, but what of the ongoing genocide in Gaza? The book was published in 2025 and Lukes references other events that occurred after 2023. Also, in talking about the holocaust, he doesn’t discuss the later formation of Israel and the multiple atrocities that Israel has committed since it became a nation, nor the displacement that this did to the other people who lived there. Is this not a mass atrocity itself?
It’s hard to walk away from the book with any sense of where to go, though I suppose the book is targeted at the initiated who don’t need direction from the book itself.
The bibliography is great- I added a few books to follow up on from it.
Also funny that the author discusses Adam Smith at length, when I read Smith’s book on morals last year, so the content was still somewhat fresh in my mind and I was able to appreciate the discussion better.
Aside: Nietzsche is a dumbass, cannot stand how often he is brought up still in any discussion period.
Displaying 1 of 1 review