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
... tion, then in its infancy. Rosencrantz, a sort of socialist or collectivist liberal (with a utilitarian bent), asks Hamlet to take into consideration the welfare of all Denmark, which might be plunged into a ruinous civil war that would ...
... tion, then in its infancy. Rosencrantz, a sort of socialist or collectivist liberal (with a utilitarian bent), asks Hamlet to take into consideration the welfare of all Denmark, which might be plunged into a ruinous civil war that would ...
Page 14
... tion , his strictures apply with equal force to the moral laws proposed by philosophers . Contemporary ethics is in even greater need of a casuistry that would restore some sense of reality to the discussions of philosophers . Fol ...
... tion , his strictures apply with equal force to the moral laws proposed by philosophers . Contemporary ethics is in even greater need of a casuistry that would restore some sense of reality to the discussions of philosophers . Fol ...
Page 19
... tion — defying common sense — that each of us owes something to every- body else . Aristotle believed what most ordinary people believe — that we should be dutiful children , cooperative neighbors , and loyal citizens . However , since ...
... tion — defying common sense — that each of us owes something to every- body else . Aristotle believed what most ordinary people believe — that we should be dutiful children , cooperative neighbors , and loyal citizens . However , since ...
Page 20
... tion , that murder is murder and that it is never right to violate a “ thou shalt not ” command in order to carry out a virtuous or charitable im- pulse . It cannot be right to rob Peter to pay Paul , even if Peter is rich and Paul is ...
... tion , that murder is murder and that it is never right to violate a “ thou shalt not ” command in order to carry out a virtuous or charitable im- pulse . It cannot be right to rob Peter to pay Paul , even if Peter is rich and Paul is ...
Page 26
... tion that all men were brothers or that each of us should live as if he were a “citizen of the world.” The Stoics' talk of human brotherhood seems to echo in St. Paul's declaration that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither ...
... tion that all men were brothers or that each of us should live as if he were a “citizen of the world.” The Stoics' talk of human brotherhood seems to echo in St. Paul's declaration that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither ...
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