The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge

by Dallas Willard, Steven L. Porter (Editor), Aaron Preston (Editor)

Based on an unfinished manuscript by the late philosopher Dallas Willard, this book makes the case that the 20th century saw a massive shift in Western beliefs and attitudes concerning the possibility of moral knowledge, such that knowledge of the moral life and of its conduct is no longer routinely available from the social institutions long thought to be responsible for it. In this sense, moral knowledge―as a publicly available resource for living―has disappeared. Via a detailed survey of main developments in ethical theory from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries, Willard explains philosophy’s role in this shift. In pointing out the shortcomings of these developments, he shows that the shift was not the result of rational argument or discovery, but largely of arational social forces―in other words, there was no good reason for moral knowledge to have disappeared. The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge is a unique contribution to the literature on the history of ethics and social morality. Its review of historical work on moral knowledge covers a wide range of thinkers including T.H Green, G.E Moore, Charles L. Stevenson, John Rawls, and Alasdair MacIntyre. But, most importantly, it concludes with a novel proposal for how we might reclaim moral knowledge that is inspired by the phenomenological approach of Knud Logstrup and Emmanuel Levinas. Edited and eventually completed by three of Willard’s former graduate students, this book marks the culmination of Willard’s project to find a secure basis in knowledge for the moral life.

Genres: Christian, Philosophy

420 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

Dallas Willard was a widely respected American philosopher and Christian thinker, best known for his work on spiritual formation and his expertise in phenomenology, particularly the philosophy of Edmund Husserl. He taught philosophy at the University of Southern California from 1965 until his death in 2013, where he also served as department chair in the early 1980s. Willard held degrees in psychology, philosophy, and religion, earning his PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a focus on the history of science. He was recognized as a leading translator and interpreter of Husserl's thought, making foundational texts available in English and contributing significantly to the fields of epistemology, philosophy of mind, and logic.
Though a serious academic, Willard became even more widely known for his books on Christian living, including The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart, both of which earned major awards and helped shape the modern spiritual formation movement. He believed that discipleship to Jesus was an intentional process involving not only belief but transformation through spiritual disciplines like prayer, study, solitude, and service. For Willard, spiritual growth was not about earning God’s favor but about participating in the divine life through active cooperation with grace.
His teachings emphasized the concept of apprenticeship to Jesus—being with him, learning to be like him—and his influence extended to ministries such as Renovaré, the Apprentice Institute, and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. He served on the boards of organizations like the C.S. Lewis Foundation and Biola University, and his intellectual and spiritual legacy continues through Dallas Willard Ministries and academic institutions inspired by his work.
Willard was also a deeply personal writer who shared candidly about the challenges of balancing academic life with family. Despite his own admitted shortcomings, those closest to him regarded him as a man of deep love, humility, and grace. His enduring impact can be seen in the lives and works of many contemporary Christian thinkers and writers, including Richard J. Foster, James Bryan Smith, and John Mark Comer. As both philosopher and pastor to the mind, Dallas Willard remains a towering figure in the dialogue between rigorous thought and transformative Christian practice.

Reviews

[Frank Peters]

Since this is an academic philosophy book, I was expecting it to be a challenging read, and it was. But, since Dallas Willard is my favourite author, I felt the need to attempt the book. It was difficult, and my background was insufficient to make the most of it. However, there were some very good insights into what has happen to moral knowledge in our society. The following are my words, not Dallas’ (in case I misunderstood him, blame me not him).
The understanding and propagation of moral knowledge in our society started to become a problem when the philosophy of scientism started to infect all other academic disciplines. Then while disciplines such as medicine, music, and geography were able to survive by demonstrating that their knowledge was true and valuable, even if it could not be reduced to philosophical or mathematical rigour, the field of ethics and moral knowledge was not as wise. Instead it attempted to redefine itself from first principles and failed. As a result, there is not longer any culturally accepted way to propagate and discuss ethics and moral knowledge. The proposal is to follow the lead of those other types of disciplines in identifying and agreeing upon moral knowledge, rather than still attempting to develop the field from first principles.

[Stewart Lindstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monumentous. Though the unfinished nature of the final chapters is of course tragic, Willard's compassion and down-to-earth sensibilities about what must constitute "the good life" set him apart as a remarkable man of great character, one who could have made great leaps in the realm of the academy, but instead chose to spend the majority of his time writing very practical works on Christian living. Willard's greatness indeed lies precisely in his unwillingness to be an ivory tower Scholastic. Unlike MacIntyre, to whom he is often understandably compared, Willard isn't interested in esoteric discussions of "the good" w/r/t Thomism and Aristotle. Rather, Willard seeks to reclaim common moral knowledge as an available resource for living. He claims that it is possible, though on our current cultural trajectory, it seems a remote possibility.