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 9
... thought of most modern philoso- phers. As the liberal tradition has unfolded, it has made increasingly impossible demands upon men and women who, confronted with the choice between moral heroism and amorality, have no choice but to ...
... thought of most modern philoso- phers. As the liberal tradition has unfolded, it has made increasingly impossible demands upon men and women who, confronted with the choice between moral heroism and amorality, have no choice but to ...
Page 11
... thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and particular cases. During the same cen- tury, however, English novelists, such as Samuel Richardson, Henry Field- ing, and Fanny Burney, were treating the moral complexities ...
... thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and particular cases. During the same cen- tury, however, English novelists, such as Samuel Richardson, Henry Field- ing, and Fanny Burney, were treating the moral complexities ...
Page 12
... thought occurs to him that he would be just as unhappy if he gave Jim up: “Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's trouble- some to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just ...
... thought occurs to him that he would be just as unhappy if he gave Jim up: “Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's trouble- some to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just ...
Page 13
... thought well enough of this part of His Creation that He sent His own Son , in human form , to redeem it , and the mainstream of Christian moral teaching has almost always taken account of ordinary obligations and of human frailty ...
... thought well enough of this part of His Creation that He sent His own Son , in human form , to redeem it , and the mainstream of Christian moral teaching has almost always taken account of ordinary obligations and of human frailty ...
Page 16
... thought leads to moral dissolution , social chaos , and music and poetry that speak only to professionals , it may be time to wonder how people lived and thrived before they were called upon to be citizens of the world , dedi- cated to ...
... thought leads to moral dissolution , social chaos , and music and poetry that speak only to professionals , it may be time to wonder how people lived and thrived before they were called upon to be citizens of the world , dedi- cated to ...
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