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 5
... interest to inform on a drug user . “ I certainly have the right to call the police , ” she says , “ but I also have the right to get drunk in the privacy of my own home . ” Exercising that right may not necessarily be a good idea , and ...
... interest to inform on a drug user . “ I certainly have the right to call the police , ” she says , “ but I also have the right to get drunk in the privacy of my own home . ” Exercising that right may not necessarily be a good idea , and ...
Page 14
... interests for the sake of the common good or to complete moral indifference to other people . Religious conservatives are not the only people to have felt uneasy with the dichotomy between the principle of merit and the principle of ...
... interests for the sake of the common good or to complete moral indifference to other people . Religious conservatives are not the only people to have felt uneasy with the dichotomy between the principle of merit and the principle of ...
Page 19
... interest , the argument runs , greedy and even vicious individuals confer benefits upon the whole of society , and the world , as a result , tends to “ go round a deal faster . " Two thousand years before Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of ...
... interest , the argument runs , greedy and even vicious individuals confer benefits upon the whole of society , and the world , as a result , tends to “ go round a deal faster . " Two thousand years before Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of ...
Page 25
... interest in all that went on in their neighborhoods. Plutarch devotes one of his most charming essays (“On Busybodiness”) to this vice of polypragmosyne, and his advice—knock before entering a house to avoid surprising people, don't ...
... interest in all that went on in their neighborhoods. Plutarch devotes one of his most charming essays (“On Busybodiness”) to this vice of polypragmosyne, and his advice—knock before entering a house to avoid surprising people, don't ...
Page 29
... interests in society . On the other hand , the doctrine of selfishness , it is argued by left- liberals , is a dead end that does not enable people within societies to re- solve conflicts . Besides , modern ethics is based on the ...
... interests in society . On the other hand , the doctrine of selfishness , it is argued by left- liberals , is a dead end that does not enable people within societies to re- solve conflicts . Besides , modern ethics is based on the ...
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