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 3
... parent. Or perhaps you are a law-abiding citizen who wonders about the limits of his civic duty. You go to bed early, because you have to leave for work by 6 a.m. Several times a month, however, you are awakened by your neighbors, who ...
... parent. Or perhaps you are a law-abiding citizen who wonders about the limits of his civic duty. You go to bed early, because you have to leave for work by 6 a.m. Several times a month, however, you are awakened by your neighbors, who ...
Page 14
... parent A to the child of parent B. This conflict of moral priorities is described by liberal philosopher James Fishkin as a “ trilemma ” —that is , a situation in which only two out of three posi- tions can be congruent . It is possible ...
... parent A to the child of parent B. This conflict of moral priorities is described by liberal philosopher James Fishkin as a “ trilemma ” —that is , a situation in which only two out of three posi- tions can be congruent . It is possible ...
Page 22
... parents , with his elders , with the laws , with strangers , with rulers , with friends , with women , with children , with servants ; that one must revere the gods , honor one's parents , respect one's elders , obey the laws , give way ...
... parents , with his elders , with the laws , with strangers , with rulers , with friends , with women , with children , with servants ; that one must revere the gods , honor one's parents , respect one's elders , obey the laws , give way ...
Page 23
... parents , and the various welfare pro- visions of Athens were jealously confined to citizens . A later philosopher , Aristotle , warned his fellow Greeks against the perils of a large com- monwealth in which aliens can usurp the ...
... parents , and the various welfare pro- visions of Athens were jealously confined to citizens . A later philosopher , Aristotle , warned his fellow Greeks against the perils of a large com- monwealth in which aliens can usurp the ...
Page 28
... parent? Should you endanger your life to save someone from his own imprudence? The situation cannot be that uncommon ... parents are poor, so too we citizens or subjects cannot stand idly by and allow Macaulay's beggar to starve to death ...
... parent? Should you endanger your life to save someone from his own imprudence? The situation cannot be that uncommon ... parents are poor, so too we citizens or subjects cannot stand idly by and allow Macaulay's beggar to starve to death ...
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