Download or read book Virtue Vice and Value written by Thomas Hurka and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2003 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hurka's book puts forth a comprehensive theoretical account of moral virtue and vice. More specifically, it gives an account of the intrinsic goodness of virtue, and intrinsic evil of vice, that can fit into a consequentialist moral theory.
Download or read book Inner Virtue written by Nicolas Bommarito and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inner virtue and vice -- Pleasure -- Emotion -- Attention -- The relevance of inner virtue
Download or read book Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe written by Erik J. Wielenberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-02-07 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Suppose there is no God. This might imply that human life is meaningless, that there are no moral obligations and hence people can do whatever they want, and that the notions of virtue and vice and good and evil have no place. Erik J. Wielenberg believes this view to be mistaken and in this book he explains why. He argues that even if God does not exist, human life can have meaning, we do have moral obligations, and virtue is possible. Naturally, the author sees virtue in a Godless universe as different from virtue in a Christian universe, and he develops naturalistic accounts of humility, charity, and hope. The moral landscape in a Godless universe is different from the moral landscape in a Christian universe, but it does indeed exist. Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe is a tour of some of the central landmarks of this under-explored territory.
Download or read book The Best Things in Life written by Thomas Hurka and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-03 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, philosophers, theologians, moralists, and ordinary people have asked: How should we live? What makes for a good life? In The Best Things in Life, distinguished philosopher Thomas Hurka takes a fresh look at these perennial questions as they arise for us now in the 21st century. Should we value family over career? How do we balance self-interest and serving others? What activities bring us the most joy? While religion, literature, popular psychology, and everyday wisdom all grapple with these questions, philosophy more than anything else uses the tools of reason to make important distinctions, cut away irrelevancies, and distill these issues down to their essentials. Hurka argues that if we are to live a good life, one thing we need to know is which activities and experiences will most likely lead us to happiness and which will keep us from it, while also reminding us that happiness isn't the only thing that makes life good. Hurka explores many topics: four types of good feeling (and the limits of good feeling); how we can improve our baseline level of happiness (making more money, it turns out, isn't the answer); which kinds of knowledge are most worth having; the importance of achieving worthwhile goals; the value of love and friendship; and much more. Unlike many philosophers, he stresses that there isn't just one good in life but many: pleasure, as Epicurus argued, is indeed one, but knowledge, as Socrates contended, is another, as is achievement. And while the great philosophers can help us understand what matters most in life, Hurka shows that we must ultimately decide for ourselves. This delightfully accessible book offers timely guidance on answering the most important question any of us will ever ask: How do we live a good life?
Download or read book From Morality to Mental Health written by Mike W. Martin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-20 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Morality and mental health are now inseparably linked in our view of character. Alcoholics are sick, yet they are punished for drunk driving. Drug addicts are criminals, but their punishment can be court ordered therapy. The line between character flaws and personality disorders has become fuzzy, with even the seven deadly sins seen as mental disorders. In addition to pathologizing wrong-doing, we also psychologize virtue; self-respect becomes self-esteem, integrity becomes psychological integration, and responsibility becomes maturity. Moral advice is now sought primarily from psychologists and therapists rather than philosophers or theologians.In this wide-ranging, accessible book, Mike W. Martin asks: are we replacing morality with therapy, in potentially confused and dangerous ways, or are we creatively integrating morality and mental health? According to him, it's a little bit of both. He surveys the ways in which morality and mental health are related, touching on practical concerns like love and work, self-respect and self-fulfillment, guilt and depression, crime and violence, and addictions. Terming this integrative development "the therapeutic trend in ethics," Martin uses examples from popular culture, various moral controversies, and draws on a line of thought that includes Plato, the Stoics, Freud, Nietzsche, and contemporary psychotherapeutic theories. Martin develops some interesting conclusions, among them that sound morality is indeed healthy, and that moral values are inevitably embedded in our conceptions of mental health. In the end, he shows how both morality and mental health are inextricably intertwined in our pursuit of a meaningful life. This book will be of interest to philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, as well as the general reader.
Download or read book The Virtues of Our Vices written by Emrys Westacott and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In The Virtues of Our Vices, philosopher Emrys Westacott takes a fresh look at important everyday ethical questions--and comes up with surprising answers. He makes a compelling argument that some of our most common vices--rudeness, gossip, snobbery, tasteless humor, and disrespect for others' beliefs--often have hidden virtues or serve unappreciated but valuable purposes."--P. [2] of jacket.
Download or read book The Inquiring Mind written by Jason S. Baehr and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jason Baehr presents a new theory of 'responsibilist' or character-based virtue-epistemology -- an approach in which intellectual character traits are given a central and fundamental role. He examines the nature and structure of an intellectual virtue and accounts for the role of reflection on intellectual virtues in epistemology.
Download or read book A Theory of Virtue written by Robert Merrihew Adams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The distinguished philosopher Robert M. Adams presents a major work on virtue, which is once again a central topic in ethical thought. A Theory of Virtue is a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define virtue in terms of its benefits for the virtuous person or for human society more generally. In Part One of this book Adams presents anddefends a conception of virtue as intrinsic excellence of character, worth prizing for its own sake and not only for its benefits. In the other two parts he addresses two challenges to the ancient idea of excellence of character. One challenge arises from the importance of altruism in modern ethical thought, and the question of what altruism has to do with intrinsic excellence. Part Two argues that altruistic benevolence does indeed have a crucial place in excellence of character, but that moral virtue should also be expected to involve excellence in being for other goods besides the well-being (and the rights) of other persons. It explores relations among cultural goods, personal relationships, one's own good, and the good of others, as objects of excellent motives.The other challenge, the subject of Part Three of the book, is typified by doubts about the reality of moral virtue, arising from experiments and conclusions in social psychology. Adams explores in detail the prospects for an empirically realistic conception of excellence of character as an object of moral aspiration, endeavor, and education. He argues that such a conception will involve renunciation of the ancient thesis of the unity or mutual implication of all virtues, and acknowledgment ofsufficient 'moral luck' in the development of any individual's character to make virtue very largely a gift, rather than an individual achievement, though nonetheless excellent and admirable for that
Download or read book Current Controversies in Virtue Theory written by Mark Alfano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-11 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtue is among the most venerable concepts in philosophy, and has recently seen a major revival. However, new challenges to conceptions of virtue have also arisen. In Current Controversies in Virtue Theory, five pairs of cutting-edge philosophers square off over central topics in virtue theory: the nature of virtue, the connection between virtue and flourishing, the connection between moral and epistemic virtues, the way in which virtues are acquired, and the possibility of attaining virtue. Mark Alfano guides his readers through these essays (all published here for the first time), with a synthetic introduction, succinct abstracts of each debate, suggested further readings and study questions for each controversy, and a list of further controversies to be explored.
Download or read book Ayn Rand s Normative Ethics written by Tara Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-03 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ayn Rand is well known for advocating egoism, but the substance of that instruction is rarely understood. Far from representing the rejection of morality, selfishness, in Rand's view, actually demands the practice of a systematic code of ethics. This book explains the fundamental virtues that Rand considers vital for a person to achieve his objective well-being: rationality, honesty, independence, justice, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Tracing Rand's account of the harmony of human beings' rational interests, Smith examines what each of these virtues consists of, why it is a virtue, and what it demands of a person in practice. Along the way she addresses the status of several conventional virtues within Rand's theory, considering traits such as kindness, charity, generosity, temperance, courage, forgiveness, and humility. Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics thus offers an in-depth exploration of several specific virtues and an illuminating integration of these with the broader theory of egoism.
Download or read book On Patience written by Matthew Pianalto and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of us are so busy that we might be tempted to think we don’t have time to be patient. However, that idea involves a serious underestimation of what patience is and why it matters. In On Patience, Matthew Pianalto revives a richer understanding of what patience is and why it is centrally important in both virtue theory and everyday life. Drawing from a wide range of philosophical and religious sources, Pianalto shows that our contemporary tendency to equate patience with waiting fails to do justice to other aspects of patience such as tolerance, perseverance, and the opposition of patience to anger. With this broader understanding of patience, Pianalto further shows how patience supports the development of other moral strengths, such as courage, justice, love, and hope. In these ways, On Patience sheds light on Franz Kafka’s remark that, “Patience is the master key to every situation,” and Gregory the Great’s perhaps surprising claim that, “Patience is the root and guardian of all the virtues.” This first book-length contemporary philosophical examination of patience will be of interest to students and scholars not just of virtue ethics, but also of moral philosophy more broadly.
Download or read book On Loyalty and Loyalties written by John Kleinig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-05-02 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deep friendship may express profound loyalty, but so too may virulent nationalism. What can and should we say about this Janus-faced virtue of the will? This volume explores at length the contours of an important and troubling virtue -- its cognates, contrasts, and perversions; its strengths and weaknesses; its awkward relations with universal morality; its oppositional form and limits; as well as the ways in which it functions in various associative connections, such as friendship and familial relations, organizations and professions, nations, countries, and religious tradition.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Virtue written by Nancy E. Snow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 905 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have seen a renaissance in the study of virtue -- a topic that has prevailed in philosophical work since the time of Aristotle. Several major developments have conspired to mark this new age. Foremost among them, some argue, is the birth of virtue ethics, an approach to ethics that focuses on virtue in place of consequentialism (the view that normative properties depend only on consequences) or deontology (the study of what we have a moral duty to do). The emergence of new virtue theories also marks this new wave of work on virtue. Put simply, these are theories about what virtue is, and they include Kantian and utilitarian virtue theories. Concurrently, virtue ethics is being applied to other fields where it hasn't been used before, including bioethics and education. In addition to these developments, the study of virtue in epistemological theories has become increasingly widespread to the point that it has spawned a subfield known as 'virtue epistemology.' This volume therefore provides a representative overview of philosophical work on virtue. It is divided into seven parts: conceptualizations of virtue, historical and religious accounts, contemporary virtue ethics and theories of virtue, central concepts and issues, critical examinations, applied virtue ethics, and virtue epistemology. Forty-two chapters by distinguished scholars offer insights and directions for further research. In addition to philosophy, authors also deal with virtues in non-western philosophical traditions, religion, and psychological perspectives on virtue.
Download or read book De Virtutibus Et Vitiis written by Aristotle and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Character Virtue Theories and the Vices written by Christine McKinnon and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 1999-08-26 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the question posed by virtue theories, namely, “what kind of person should I be?” provides a more promising approach to moral questions than do either deontological or consequentialist moral theories where the concern is with what actions are morally required or permissible. It does so both by arguing that there are firmer theoretical foundations for virtue theories, and by persuasively suggesting the superiority of virtue theories over deontological and consquentialist theories on the question of explaining morally bad behavior. Virtue theories can give a richer account by appealing to the kinds of dispositions that make certain bad choices appear attractive. This richer account also exposes a further advantage of virtue theories: they provide the best kinds of motivations for agents to become better persons.
Download or read book Vice Virtue in Everyday Life written by Christina Hoff Sommers and published by Wadsworth Publishing Company. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and provocative collection of both classical and contemporary voices in perennial ethical debates, VICE AND VIRTUE has established itself as one of the truly outstanding anthologies for Introduction to Ethics Courses. In contradistinction to many other introduction to ethics books that focus on the application of moral theories to various institutionally based social dilemmas, VICE AND VIRTUE is unabashedly committed to the exploration of private, individual virtue and responsibility. This book provides both an overview of seminal ethical theories as well as many stimulating readings chosen to encourage students' own reflection on how these abstract theories impact decisions they face individually in their everyday lives.
Download or read book Burdened Virtues written by Lisa Tessman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-06 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lisa Tessman's Burdened Virtues is a deeply original and provocative work that engages questions central to feminist theory and practice, from the perspective of Aristotelian ethics. Focused primarily on selves who endure and resist oppression, she addresses the ways in which devastating conditions confronted by these selves both limit and burden their moral goodness, and affect their possibilities of flourishing. She describes two different forms of "moral trouble" prevalent under oppression. The first is that the oppressed self may be morally damaged, prevented from developing or exercising some of the virtues; the second is that the very conditions of oppression require the oppressed to develop a set of virtues that carry a moral cost to those who practice them--traits that Tessman refers to as "burdened virtues." These virtues have the unusual feature of being disjoined from their bearer's own well being. Tessman's work focuses on issues that have been missed by many feminist moral theories, and her use of the virtue ethics framework brings feminist concerns more closely into contact with mainstream ethical theory. This book will appeal to feminist theorists in philosophy and women's studies, but also more broadly, ethicists and social theorists.
