Grounds for Respect: Particularism, Universalism, and Communal Accountability

In recent years traditional foundations of respect for others have been challenged on the basis that universal grounds — the assumption that we share a common humanity — have resulted in the exclusion of particular others from full moral consideration or respect. This current questioning of the concept of a common humanity is of enormous significance, in that universalism has been one of the central assumptions of modern western philosophy and a foundational key to its moral and political t...