Most contemporary moral philosophy is concerned with issues of rationality, universality, impartiality, and principle. By contrast Laurence Blum is concerned with the psychology of moral agency. The essays in this collection examine the moral import of emotion, motivation, judgment, perception, and group identifications, and explore how all these psychic capacities contribute to a morally good life. Blum takes up the challenge of Iris Murdoch to articulate a vision of moral excellence that provides a worthy aspiration for human beings. Drawing on accounts of non-Jewish rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust Blum argues that impartial principle can mislead us about the variety of forms of moral excellence.

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Stereotypes are false or misleading generalizations about groups held in a manner that renders them largely, though not entirely, immune to counterevidence. In doing so, stereotypes powerfully shape the stereotyper's perception of stereotyped groups, seeing the stereotypic characteristics when they are not present, failing to see the contrary of• those characteristics when they are,. and generally homogenizing the group. A stereotyper associates a certain characteristic with the stereotyped._group--forexample Blacks with being athletic-but may do so with a form of cognitive investment in tha( as•sociation that does not rise to the level of a belief in the generalization that Blacks are athletic. The cognitive distortions involved in stereotyping lead to various forms of moral distortion, to which moral philosophers have paid inadequate attention. Some moral distortions are common to all stereotypes-moral distancing, failing to see members of the stereotyped group as individuals, and failing to see diversity within that. group. Other moral distortions vary with the stereotype. Some stereotypes attribute a desirable characteristic to a group (being good students, for example) and, ceteris paribus, are less objectionable than ones. that attribute undesirable characteristics. Yet the larger historical and social context may attach undesirable characteristics to the desirable ones-being boring and overfocused on academic pursuits, for example. The popular film The Passion of the Christ purveys negative stereotypes of Jews that have been historically powerful and damaging along with negative portrayals of Romans that have not . I Stereotypes do not exhaust objectionable cultural imagery of groups. Some images of groups are simply demeaning without attributing specific characteristics to the groups. For example, American popular culture has, especially in .the past, utilized. images of Asians withbuck teeth, speaking a kind of pidgin English [the Chinese character played by Mickey Rooney in the mm Breakfast at Tiffany's is an example], or Blacks with huge lips and bugeyes, which makes them the butt of humor. The images depict the group in a demeaning and insulting manner (and generally, though not always, intend to do so), but they are distinct from stereotypes. They do not particularly attempt to assodate the group in• question with a general.trait meant to apply to the members of the group. They are more like the visual, or representational, equivalent of an ethnic slur, an insulting name for a group (like kike, spic, nigger, Polack, fag). Sometimes the word 'stereotype' is used broadly

Different socioeconomic backgrounds and barriers to education have contributed to lower educational achievement among blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans, compared to American whites and Asians. The failure of legal integration to close the racial achievement gap is the result of prejudice on the part of teachers, as well as a scarcity of culturally relevant curricula materials for nonwhite children. As a plausible solution to these problems, recent studies show that poor children do better in classes where middle-class children are also present. Middle-class children already have habits and values that support success in the educational system. Integrated schools are not sufficient, because they are often divided in “tracks” that reproduce racial segregation. Racial diversity in the K-12 classroom is fruitful preparation for civic engagement in a pluralistic society made up of citizens from diverse backgrounds.

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