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 4
... human rights: All people everywhere have a right to use their own lan- guage, form their own communities, and practice their own religion, and the Ruthenian government may not be permitted to deprive its citizens of these and other ...
... human rights: All people everywhere have a right to use their own lan- guage, form their own communities, and practice their own religion, and the Ruthenian government may not be permitted to deprive its citizens of these and other ...
Page 5
... human sacrifice , while Christian- ity has always maintained a respect for innocent life . When an abortion clinic opens in a predominantly Italian Catholic section of Gotham , members of the “ right - to - life ” movement debate what ...
... human sacrifice , while Christian- ity has always maintained a respect for innocent life . When an abortion clinic opens in a predominantly Italian Catholic section of Gotham , members of the “ right - to - life ” movement debate what ...
Page 9
... Human societies are, it goes without saying, diverse in morals no less than in manners. However, on certain points ... humanity. 10 The Morality of Everyday Life In the modern theories 02 Fleming intr, p 1-17 1/23/04 12:28 PM Page 9 ...
... Human societies are, it goes without saying, diverse in morals no less than in manners. However, on certain points ... humanity. 10 The Morality of Everyday Life In the modern theories 02 Fleming intr, p 1-17 1/23/04 12:28 PM Page 9 ...
Page 10
... human rights and op- pression . The older tradition was more complex . A soldier might owe loyalty to his commanders ... human conduct ; second , that these laws may not be applied simplisti- cally and uniformly to the great variety of ...
... human rights and op- pression . The older tradition was more complex . A soldier might owe loyalty to his commanders ... human conduct ; second , that these laws may not be applied simplisti- cally and uniformly to the great variety of ...
Page 11
... human beings could not live up to so austere a standard. Rejecting absolutism as both impracti- cal and, in this human world, impossible, he argued from the basis of probability, always making allowances for human frailty. The result of ...
... human beings could not live up to so austere a standard. Rejecting absolutism as both impracti- cal and, in this human world, impossible, he argued from the basis of probability, always making allowances for human frailty. The result of ...
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