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 8
... universal nation (to use Ben Wattenberg's phrase), cut loose from all the local patriotisms and blood-and-soil nationalism that made “old Europe” a charnel house. Americans who are satisfied with the results of 150 years of social ...
... universal nation (to use Ben Wattenberg's phrase), cut loose from all the local patriotisms and blood-and-soil nationalism that made “old Europe” a charnel house. Americans who are satisfied with the results of 150 years of social ...
Page 9
... universal rules reducible to a mathematical formula, Aristotle and the writers of the Old Testament discerned an intricate network of peculiar obligations arising from specific circumstances and experiences. Where modern philosophers ...
... universal rules reducible to a mathematical formula, Aristotle and the writers of the Old Testament discerned an intricate network of peculiar obligations arising from specific circumstances and experiences. Where modern philosophers ...
Page 11
... universal moral abstractions of Locke and Leibniz, which eliminated, so it was thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and particular cases. During the same cen- tury, however, English novelists, such as Samuel ...
... universal moral abstractions of Locke and Leibniz, which eliminated, so it was thought, the need for analyz- ing particular relationships and particular cases. During the same cen- tury, however, English novelists, such as Samuel ...
Page 14
... universal statements that cannot comprehend every contingency . For human beings , at least , fairness and reasonableness ( epieikeia ) are better adapted to the needs of justice than the kind of dogmatic absolutism that leads to error ...
... universal statements that cannot comprehend every contingency . For human beings , at least , fairness and reasonableness ( epieikeia ) are better adapted to the needs of justice than the kind of dogmatic absolutism that leads to error ...
Page 20
... universal end or goal . ” 4 Before his conversion to the religion of philanthropy , Scrooge is not an unscrupulous cynic but a utilitarian liberal who believes that kind- ness and charity are worse than humbug ; kindness to the poor ...
... universal end or goal . ” 4 Before his conversion to the religion of philanthropy , Scrooge is not an unscrupulous cynic but a utilitarian liberal who believes that kind- ness and charity are worse than humbug ; kindness to the poor ...
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