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
... stranger's child ? If the answer is yes , then where should she draw the line ? Why confine her protests to Gotham ... strangers . Of course , she says , she has religious reasons for wanting to protest abortions , just as she does for ...
... stranger's child ? If the answer is yes , then where should she draw the line ? Why confine her protests to Gotham ... strangers . Of course , she says , she has religious reasons for wanting to protest abortions , just as she does for ...
Page 6
... strangers. The most common answer, which pro-life activists use to defend their protests and rescue missions, is ... stranger, and one can safely assume that he wants to be rescued, that he would gladly give permission to enter. In the ...
... strangers. The most common answer, which pro-life activists use to defend their protests and rescue missions, is ... stranger, and one can safely assume that he wants to be rescued, that he would gladly give permission to enter. In the ...
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... strangers, who may live on the other side of the globe? Liberal Consensus There is a strange convergence in the style of reasoning employed by international philanthropists, liberal “do-gooders,” and right-to-life activists. Our ...
... strangers, who may live on the other side of the globe? Liberal Consensus There is a strange convergence in the style of reasoning employed by international philanthropists, liberal “do-gooders,” and right-to-life activists. Our ...
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... strangers? In the United States, it is in- creasingly common to hear that taxpayers are morally obliged to pro- vide for the needs of illegal aliens. But in some of the village cultures from which the aliens come, the stranger has few ...
... strangers? In the United States, it is in- creasingly common to hear that taxpayers are morally obliged to pro- vide for the needs of illegal aliens. But in some of the village cultures from which the aliens come, the stranger has few ...
Page 22
... 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 to rulers , love one's friends , exercise ...
... 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 to rulers , love one's friends , exercise ...
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