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 1
... never faced such a dilemma ; few of us have . But supposing we were Hamlet's loyal friend , how would we advise him ? The advice would probably depend on the moral and religious traditions in which we 1 2 The Morality of Everyday Life ...
... never faced such a dilemma ; few of us have . But supposing we were Hamlet's loyal friend , how would we advise him ? The advice would probably depend on the moral and religious traditions in which we 1 2 The Morality of Everyday Life ...
Page 2
... never the answer and suggest either exile or some form of civil disobedience against the illegitimate government. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are also students of political phi- losophy, have been studying (let us further suppose) ...
... never the answer and suggest either exile or some form of civil disobedience against the illegitimate government. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are also students of political phi- losophy, have been studying (let us further suppose) ...
Page 4
... never complained or shown any signs of abuse. Nonetheless, you have heard that it is everyone's duty to protect battered wives. You have received a large legacy from a maiden aunt, and although you are tempted to quit your job and move ...
... never complained or shown any signs of abuse. Nonetheless, you have heard that it is everyone's duty to protect battered wives. You have received a large legacy from a maiden aunt, and although you are tempted to quit your job and move ...
Page 6
... never taken the trouble to read St. Thomas Aquinas, much less to study the real tradition of natural law, which teaches that there are specific duties attached to each sphere of life (such as motherhood or citizenship) and that a ...
... never taken the trouble to read St. Thomas Aquinas, much less to study the real tradition of natural law, which teaches that there are specific duties attached to each sphere of life (such as motherhood or citizenship) and that a ...
Page 7
... never meet in the ordinary course of life? Not relatives, friends, and neighbors—people over whom they might have some influence— but total strangers, who may live on the other side of the globe? Liberal Consensus There is a strange ...
... never meet in the ordinary course of life? Not relatives, friends, and neighbors—people over whom they might have some influence— but total strangers, who may live on the other side of the globe? Liberal Consensus There is a strange ...
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