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 1
... young man's father and married his mother , or he might , out of respect for his mother , simply carry on as if nothing had happened , or , if he could not endure the sight of his uncle , he could go into exile ; he could even , as his ...
... young man's father and married his mother , or he might , out of respect for his mother , simply carry on as if nothing had happened , or , if he could not endure the sight of his uncle , he could go into exile ; he could even , as his ...
Page 5
... young mother is in a quandary , not knowing if she should take time away from her children , whom she is homeschooling , to attend the demonstrations . Her priest has said in his sermon that no one was doing enough in the cause of life ...
... young mother is in a quandary , not knowing if she should take time away from her children , whom she is homeschooling , to attend the demonstrations . Her priest has said in his sermon that no one was doing enough in the cause of life ...
Page 8
... young Ameri- can literary critic whose behavior strikes her colleagues at a conference as somewhat eccentric: “Of course he remains essentially American in believing all questions have answers, that there is an ideal life against which ...
... young Ameri- can literary critic whose behavior strikes her colleagues at a conference as somewhat eccentric: “Of course he remains essentially American in believing all questions have answers, that there is an ideal life against which ...
Page 15
... young Dean Koontz, who grew up to write his own escapist fantasies. In Koontz's thriller The Voice of the Night, a troubled boy takes refuge in science fiction, and when he begins to tell his mother terrifying tales, she can only assume ...
... young Dean Koontz, who grew up to write his own escapist fantasies. In Koontz's thriller The Voice of the Night, a troubled boy takes refuge in science fiction, and when he begins to tell his mother terrifying tales, she can only assume ...
Page 34
... young man that to gain eternal life he had only to honor his father and mother and obey the commandments. It was only when pressed that He added, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt ...
... young man that to gain eternal life he had only to honor his father and mother and obey the commandments. It was only when pressed that He added, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt ...
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