The Morality of Everyday Life: Rediscovering an Ancient Alternative to the Liberal TraditionFleming offers an alternative to enlightened liberalism, where moral and political problems are looked at from an objective point of view and a decision made from a distant perspective that is both rational and universally applied to all comparable cases. He instead places importance on the particular, the local, and moral complexity, advocating a return to premodern traditions for a solution to ethical predicaments. In his view, liberalism and postmodernism ignore the fact that human beings by their very nature refuse to live in a world of abstractions where the attachments of friends, neighbors, family, and country make no difference. Fleming believes that a modern type of "casuistry" should be applied to moral conflicts, using examples from history, literature, and religion to explain this moral ecology that refuses to divorce organisms from their interactions with each other and with their environment. |
From inside the book
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Page 11
... beginning of the eighteenth century, Protestant Europe and North America had embraced the universal moral abstractions of Locke and Leibniz, which eliminated, so it was thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and ...
... beginning of the eighteenth century, Protestant Europe and North America had embraced the universal moral abstractions of Locke and Leibniz, which eliminated, so it was thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and ...
Page 12
... beginning, Christian ethics and moral theology have been in- herently casuistic in taking full account of the spiritual condition and intention of the sinner as well as of the circumstances in which the sin was committed. The rigorism ...
... beginning, Christian ethics and moral theology have been in- herently casuistic in taking full account of the spiritual condition and intention of the sinner as well as of the circumstances in which the sin was committed. The rigorism ...
Page 14
... beginning with the principle of equality , have insisted upon wealth - transfer as a necessary means for equalizing op- portunity . Both lines of argument lead to an absurd conclusion — either to an insistence upon sacrificing all ...
... beginning with the principle of equality , have insisted upon wealth - transfer as a necessary means for equalizing op- portunity . Both lines of argument lead to an absurd conclusion — either to an insistence upon sacrificing all ...
Page 19
... beginning of A Christmas Carol , when Scrooge is asked by two philanthropic gentlemen for a charitable contribution , he replies that they should put him down for nothing . “ You wish to be anonymous ? ” they persist , and he replies ...
... beginning of A Christmas Carol , when Scrooge is asked by two philanthropic gentlemen for a charitable contribution , he replies that they should put him down for nothing . “ You wish to be anonymous ? ” they persist , and he replies ...
Page 23
... beginning of so many speeches , such as Lysias 32 where one family member is suing another . A Greek was , however , supposed to seek revenge from enemies . 24 The Morality of Everyday Life prayed for powerful friends 03 Fleming ch1 , p ...
... beginning of so many speeches , such as Lysias 32 where one family member is suing another . A Greek was , however , supposed to seek revenge from enemies . 24 The Morality of Everyday Life prayed for powerful friends 03 Fleming ch1 , p ...
Contents
1 | |
18 | |
42 | |
Too Much Reality | 69 |
Growing Up Unabsurd | 95 |
Problems of Perspective | 135 |
The Myth of Individualism | 167 |
Goodbye Old Rights of Man | 194 |
Bibliography | 235 |
Index | 251 |
Other editions - View all
The Morality of Everyday Life: Rediscovering an Ancient Alternative to the ... Thomas Fleming No preview available - 2004 |
The Morality of Everyday Life: Rediscovering an Ancient Alternative to the ... Thomas Fleming No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
abstract Alasdair MacIntyre American ancient Antigone argued argument Aristotle Athenian Carol Gilligan casuistry Catholic century charity child Christian Church citizens civil claims common concept Creon cultural depends Descartes divine duty ethical European evil example fact father feel French friends friendship G. K. Chesterton global Goodbye Greek Growing Up Unabsurd happiness hero human rights ideal identity impartial Jefferson Jews John Johnson justice justify killed Kohlberg Kosovo language Lawrence Kohlberg liberal liberty live loyalty ment modern moral development Morality of Everyday mother Myth of Individualism nation-state nationalist natural neighbor Neoptolemus object obligation Old Rights one’s parents patriotism person Philoctetes philosophers Plato Plutarch political poor principle Problems of Perspective question reality reason regard religion religious responsibility Roman rules Samuel Johnson sense Serbs social society Stoic story strangers theory things Thomas tion tradition University Press virtue Voltaire women