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 1
... father and married his mother , or he might , out of respect for his mother , simply carry on as if nothing had happened , or , if he could not endure the sight of his uncle , he could go into exile ; he could even , as his famous ...
... father and married his mother , or he might , out of respect for his mother , simply carry on as if nothing had happened , or , if he could not endure the sight of his uncle , he could go into exile ; he could even , as his famous ...
Page 2
... father and mother: “Kill Claudius and seize the throne, by all means (if that is what you want), but not out of any misguided desire for revenge for a dead father or resentment against an unchaste mother.” Hamlet is too old-fashioned to ...
... father and mother: “Kill Claudius and seize the throne, by all means (if that is what you want), but not out of any misguided desire for revenge for a dead father or resentment against an unchaste mother.” Hamlet is too old-fashioned to ...
Page 3
... father of a student is smoking marijuana on the weekends. You believe it is your duty to call the police, but you feel uneasy, knowing that, despite his drug use, he is an otherwise responsible parent. Or perhaps you are a law-abiding ...
... father of a student is smoking marijuana on the weekends. You believe it is your duty to call the police, but you feel uneasy, knowing that, despite his drug use, he is an otherwise responsible parent. Or perhaps you are a law-abiding ...
Page 13
... father's or a master's justice are not the same as that of the citizens " ( Arist . Ethica Nicomachea 1134b ) . The casuists , in their sub- tle fashion , went even further , distinguishing the peculiar moral prob- lems of specific ...
... father's or a master's justice are not the same as that of the citizens " ( Arist . Ethica Nicomachea 1134b ) . The casuists , in their sub- tle fashion , went even further , distinguishing the peculiar moral prob- lems of specific ...
Page 20
... fathers . “ Since one cannot help everyone , ” remarked Augustine , “ one has to be concerned with those who by reason of place , time , or circumstances , are by some chance more tightly bound to you . ” 3 A Christian saint , if he had ...
... fathers . “ Since one cannot help everyone , ” remarked Augustine , “ one has to be concerned with those who by reason of place , time , or circumstances , are by some chance more tightly bound to you . ” 3 A Christian saint , if he had ...
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