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. |
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Page 10
... loyalty to his commanders and nation but also have conflicting duties to his family and his church . He might be forced to choose between obey- ing orders or obeying his religious conscience , between staying with his unit or returning ...
... loyalty to his commanders and nation but also have conflicting duties to his family and his church . He might be forced to choose between obey- ing orders or obeying his religious conscience , between staying with his unit or returning ...
Page 34
... loyalty and obedience from wives to husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters, subjects to empire. John the Baptist was content with telling the Jews to share their food and clothing with the destitute, the tax collectors to ...
... loyalty and obedience from wives to husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters, subjects to empire. John the Baptist was content with telling the Jews to share their food and clothing with the destitute, the tax collectors to ...
Page 43
... loyalty that stops short of the Kingdom of God. When a philosopher (Alasdair MacIntyre) wonders, in the title of an essay, “Is patriotism a virtue?” the answer from all sides is a resounding no. Premodern Particularism It was not always ...
... loyalty that stops short of the Kingdom of God. When a philosopher (Alasdair MacIntyre) wonders, in the title of an essay, “Is patriotism a virtue?” the answer from all sides is a resounding no. Premodern Particularism It was not always ...
Page 44
... loyalty has been the central fact of our moral life for as long as we have been human . As we have seen , even the highly civilized Athenians sharply distinguished be- tween citizens and strangers . In international relations , the ...
... loyalty has been the central fact of our moral life for as long as we have been human . As we have seen , even the highly civilized Athenians sharply distinguished be- tween citizens and strangers . In international relations , the ...
Page 50
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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