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 2
... principle that the best policy is that which has the best effect on those who are least well-off. Guildenstern, on the other hand, has studied with the predecessors of John Locke and Ayn Rand, and, as a budding anarcho-individualist ...
... principle that the best policy is that which has the best effect on those who are least well-off. Guildenstern, on the other hand, has studied with the predecessors of John Locke and Ayn Rand, and, as a budding anarcho-individualist ...
Page 10
... principles : first , that there are general and universally applicable moral laws governing human conduct ; second , that these laws may not be applied simplisti- cally and uniformly to the great variety of human circumstances and ...
... principles : first , that there are general and universally applicable moral laws governing human conduct ; second , that these laws may not be applied simplisti- cally and uniformly to the great variety of human circumstances and ...
Page 11
... principle, but, since the time of Descartes, philosophers have been acting more and more as if a moral algebra or an ... principles to the rough-and- tumble of everyday life, modern philosophers—and their disciples who manage the affairs ...
... principle, but, since the time of Descartes, philosophers have been acting more and more as if a moral algebra or an ... principles to the rough-and- tumble of everyday life, modern philosophers—and their disciples who manage the affairs ...
Page 13
... principle . The fault , however , does not lie with Christianity per se , which is far from being a killjoy religion . On the contrary , the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation should teach Christians that God thought well enough of ...
... principle . The fault , however , does not lie with Christianity per se , which is far from being a killjoy religion . On the contrary , the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation should teach Christians that God thought well enough of ...
Page 14
... principle of merit and the principle of equality and with any plan that weakens family integrity by transfer- ring wealth from parent A to the child of parent B. This conflict of moral priorities is described by liberal philosopher ...
... principle of merit and the principle of equality and with any plan that weakens family integrity by transfer- ring wealth from parent A to the child of parent B. This conflict of moral priorities is described by liberal philosopher ...
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