Download or read book Morals of Vision written by and published by Steidl. This book was released on 2019-02 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When William Eggleston's second artist's book Morals of Visions was first published in 1978 in a limited edition of fifteen, only a handful of lucky people were able to obtain it; it has since become a collectible rarity. That is now to change with this new Steidl edition, which re-imagines Morals of Visions as a trade book for the general public. The original Morals of Vision contains eight color coupler prints of Eggleston's archetypal still lifes, landscapes and portraits which glorify the banal and have since changed the history of color photography. "There is no particular reason to search for meaning," Eggleston has said of his work in general, a sentiment in contrast with the title Morals of Vision which suggests that there are indeed principles of a kind to be learnt from the images in this book. Yet the lessons in photos including those of a broom leaning again a wall, green grain silos in the fading light, and an off-center electric candle complete with fake wax, remain Eggleston's own ironic secret. 'I don't have a burning desire to go out and document anything. It just happens when it happens. It's not a conscious effort, nor is it a struggle.' -William Eggleston

Download or read book The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch written by Heather Widdows and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy, although highly influential in 20th century moral theory, is somewhat unsystematic and inaccessible. In this work Widdows outlines the moral vision of Iris Murdoch in its entirety and draws out the implications of her thought for the contemporary ethical debate, discussing such aspects of Murdoch's work as the influence of Plato on her conception of The Good, the reality of the human moral experience, the attainment of knowledge of moral values and how art and religion inform the living of the moral life. Examining all of Murdoch's contributions to moral philosophy from her short papers to Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, Heather Widdows provides an accessible and systematised account of Murdoch's moral concepts and offers a clear and critical exposition of her thought. By clarifying Murdoch's central themes, core ideas and her picture of the moral life, this book enables her work to be more easily understood and so utilised in current debates.

Download or read book A Conflict of Visions written by Thomas Sowell and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-06-05 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Sowell’s “extraordinary” explication of the competing visions of human nature lie at the heart of our political conflicts (New York Times) Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes this pattern. He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the "constrained" vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the "unconstrained" vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.

Download or read book Moral Blindness written by Zygmunt Bauman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-24 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evil is not confined to war or to circumstances in which people are acting under extreme duress. Today it more frequently reveals itself in the everyday insensitivity to the suffering of others, in the inability or refusal to understand them and in the casual turning away of one’s ethical gaze. Evil and moral blindness lurk in what we take as normality and in the triviality and banality of everyday life, and not just in the abnormal and exceptional cases. The distinctive kind of moral blindness that characterizes our societies is brilliantly analysed by Zygmunt Bauman and Leonidas Donskis through the concept of adiaphora: the placing of certain acts or categories of human beings outside of the universe of moral obligations and evaluations. Adiaphora implies an attitude of indifference to what is happening in the world – a moral numbness. In a life where rhythms are dictated by ratings wars and box-office returns, where people are preoccupied with the latest gadgets and forms of gossip, in our ‘hurried life’ where attention rarely has time to settle on any issue of importance, we are at serious risk of losing our sensitivity to the plight of the other. Only celebrities or media stars can expect to be noticed in a society stuffed with sensational, valueless information. This probing inquiry into the fate of our moral sensibilities will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the most profound changes that are silently shaping the lives of everyone in our contemporary liquid-modern world.

Download or read book Do Morals Matter written by Joseph S. Nye and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the role of ethics in American foreign policy? The Trump Administration has elevated this from a theoretical question to front-page news. Should ethics even play a role, or should we only focus on defending our material interests? In Do Morals Matter? Joseph S. Nye provides a concise yet penetrating analysis of how modern American presidents have-and have not-incorporated ethics into their foreign policy. Nye examines each presidency during theAmerican era post-1945 and scores them on the success they achieved in implementing an ethical foreign policy. Alongside this, he evaluates their leadership qualities, explaining which approaches work and which ones do not.

Download or read book The Moral Vision of the New Testament written by Richard Hays and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1996-08-30 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading expert in New Testament ethics discovers in the biblical witness a unified ethical vision -- centered in the themes of community, cross and new creation -- that has profound relevance in today's world. Richard Hays shows how the New Testament provides moral guidance on the most troubling ethical issues of our time, including violence, divorce, homosexuality and abortion. "Hays' passionately written book, with its bold agenda, has neither peer nor rival." --Leander E. Keck, Winkley Professor of Biblical Theology, Yale Divinity School "There are few people I would rather read for the actual exposition of the New Testament than Richard Hays. This book is filled with wonderful readings that not only inform us about how to think better about the so-called 'problem of the relation between the New Testament and ethics' but, even more, speak of how our lives should be lived in the light of Christ's cross. -Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Studies, Duke University Divinity School "Richard Hays has succeeded brilliantly in bringing New Testament studies, contemporary theology, and ethics into a deeply reflective conversation... Hays' point is that the New Testament norms the Christian life, and, with the help of imagination and metaphor, can address the moral conflicts of our time." --Ellen T. Charry, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University "This book isn't just a breath of fresh air. It's a hurricane, blowing away the fog of half-understood pseudo-morality and fashionable compromise, and revealing instead the early Christian vision of true humanness and genuine holiness. If this isn't a book for our time, I don't know what is." --N. T. Wright, author of The New Testament and the People of God

Download or read book Moral Vision written by David McNaughton and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1991-01-08 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the reader to ethics by examining a current and important debate. During the last fifty years the orthodox position in ethics has been a broadly non-cognitivist one: since there are no moral facts, moral remarks are best understood, not as attempting to describe the world, but as having some other function - such as expressing the attitudes or preferences of the speaker. In recent years this position has been increasingly challenged by moral realists who maintain that there are moral facts; there is a truth of the matter in ethics, which is independent of our views, and which we seek to discover. Unfortunately much of this interesting debate found in the work of McDowell, Wiggins, Putnam, Blackburn and others is not easily accessible to undergraduates. McNaughton presents many of the major issues in ethics by way of a clear exposition of both sides of this argument and assumes no prior knowledge of philosophy. Topics discussed include: moral observation, moral motivation, amoralism and wickedness, moral weakness, cultural relativism and utilitarianism. The book concludes that a convincing case can be made out for a radical form of moral realism in which moral virtue is found, not in the following of correct moral principles, but rather in the development of moral sensitivity. Moral Vision is a clear and engaged introduction to an important, and often troubling, debate.

Download or read book Iris Murdoch s Ethics written by Megan Laverty and published by Continuum. This book was released on 2007-11-30 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will be of great value to philosophers, gender theorists, literary critics and others engaged with the questions of life's meaning and what a deepened understanding of it looks like.

Download or read book The Morals and Politics of Psychology written by Isaac Prilleltensky and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1994-07-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the moral, social, and political implications of dominant psychological theories and practices. The analysis entails the therapeutic uses of psychoanalysis, cognitive, behavioral, and humanistic psychology, as well as the practice of clinical, school, and industrial/organizational psychology. It is argued that applied psychology strengthens the societal status quo, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of social injustice. Most discussions of morality in psychology deal with the ethical repercussions of practices on individual clients. This book is unique in that it deals with the social ethics of psychology; that is, with the social morality of the discipline. It is also unique in that it offers a comprehensive critique of the most popular psychological means of solving human problems. The author does not stop at the level of critique but provides a vision for including the values of self-determination, distributive justice, collaboration, and democratic participation in psychology. He shows how some of these values have already been adopted by feminist and community psychologists. Given the prominence of psychology in contemporary society, The Morals and Politics of Psychology should be of interest to mental health professionals and their clients, as well as to people concerned with morality and social justice.

Download or read book The Emotional Construction of Morals written by Jesse Prinz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-11-22 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesse Prinz presents a bravura argument for highly controversial claims about morality, which go to the heart of our understanding of ourselves. He argues that moral values are based on emotional responses, and that these are inculcated by culture, not hard-wired through natural selection. These two claims support a form of moral relativism.

Download or read book Self Expressions written by Owen J. Flanagan and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1996 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings have the unique ability to consciously reflect on the nature of the self. But reflection has its costs. We can ask what the self is, but as David Hume pointed out, the self, once reflected upon, may be nowhere to be found. The favored view is that we are material beings living in the material world. But if so, a host of destabilizing questions surface. If persons are just a sophisticated sort of animal, then what sense is there to the idea that we are free agents who control our own destinies? What makes the life of any animal, even one as sophisticated as Homo sapiens, worth anything? What place is there in a material world for God? And if there is no place for a God, then what hold can morality possibly have on us--why isn't everything allowed? Flanagan's collection of essays takes on these questions and more. He continues the old philosophical project of reconciling a scientific view of ourselves with a view of ourselves as agents of free will and meaning-makers. But to this project he brings the latest insights of neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychiatry, exploring topics such as whether the conscious mind can be explained scientifically, whether dreams are self-expressive or just noise, the moral socialization of children, and the nature of psychological phenomena such as multiple personality disorder and false memory syndrome. What emerges from these explorations is a liberating vision which can make sense of the self, agency, character transformation, and the value and worth of human life. Flanagan concludes that nothing about a scientific view of persons must lead to nihilism.

Download or read book Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals written by Iris Murdoch and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1994-03-01 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The decline of religion and ever increasing influence of science pose acute ethical issues for us all. Can we reject the literal truth of the Gospels yet still retain a Christian morality? Can we defend any 'moral values' against the constant encroachments of technology? Indeed, are we in danger of losing most of the qualities which make us truly human? Here, drawing on a novelist's insight into art, literature and abnormal psychology, Iris Murdoch conducts an ongoing debate with major writers, thinkers and theologians—from Augustine to Wittgenstein, Shakespeare to Sartre, Plato to Derrida—to provide fresh and compelling answers to these crucial questions.

Download or read book The Moral Landscape written by Sam Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sam Harris dismantles the most common justification for religious faith--that a moral system cannot be based on science.

Download or read book Lincoln s Moral Vision written by James Tackach and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2002 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address, the final great speech of his three- decades public career. Delivered a little more than a month before the end of the Civil War and forty-one days before he was assassinated, the speech reveals Lincoln coming to terms with vital moral and political issues with which he had grappled during his political life. This book traces how the speech addresses three critical issues that obsessed him: slavery, race, and religion. Although in early life Lincoln developed a personal distaste for slavery, he never embraced the abolitionist cause. Before his presidency, he endorsed a "middle position" on slavery, arguing that it could remain legal in the South where it was entrenched, but not be allowed to spread to new territories. On the matter of race Lincoln was a man shaped by the prejudices of his time and place. Before the Civil War he advocated no civil rights for blacks and often asserted that whites should hold a superior position in American society. In religious perspective Lincoln was a skeptic, even accused by one political opponent of being an infidel. But during the political turbulence of the 1850s and during Lincoln's presidency, his positions on these three burning issues shifted dramatically. The profound changes in Lincoln's thinking are evident in the Second Inaugural Address, in which he condemns slavery as a grievous national sin that prompted a just God to deliver upon the United States a fierce punishment in the form of a devastating civil war. This book argues that the Second Inaugural Address was Lincoln's resolution of the moral and political issues of his time and is the key document in Lincoln's entire literary canon. James Tackach, a professor of English at Roger Williams University, is the editor of Slave Narratives and The Battle of Gettysburg and the author of books for young adults, including The Trial of John Brown: Radical Abolitionist and The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South.

Download or read book Moral Vision written by Duane L. Cady and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral Thinking is critical of mainstream academic ethics for being pretty nearly stuck on Kant and Mill, for neglecting nonviolence (Gandhi and King), for nearly neglecting the women's movement (it is not yet central to most ethics texts and courses), for largely neglecting the anti-racism movement (also marginal in academic ethics), and for almost totally neglecting the anti-imperialism movement. Moral Vision suggests an integrated approach that includes these often-neglected elements and also recognizes aesthetic and experiential dimensions of ethical reflection. This book will be of interest to anyone wondering what philosophy may contribute to our contemporary struggle with conflicting values and value collisions, personal as well as cultural.

Download or read book The Origins of Christian Morality written by Wayne A. Meeks and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the time Christianity became a political and cultural force in the Roman Empire, it had come to embody a new moral vision. This wise and eloquent book describes the formative years--from the crucifixion of Jesus to the end of the second century of the common era--when Christian beliefs and practices shaped their unique moral order. Wayne A. Meeks examines the surviving documents from Christianity's beginnings (some of which became the New Testament) and shows that they are largely concerned with the way converts to the movement should behave. Meeks finds that for these Christians, the formation of morals means the formation of community; the documents are addressed not to individuals but to groups, and they have among their primary aims the maintenance and growth of these groups. Meeks paints a picture of the process of socialization that produced the early forms of Christian morality, discussing many factors that made the Christians feel that they were a single and "chosen" people. He describes, for example, the impact of conversion; the rapid spread of Christian household cult-associations in the cities of the Roman Empire; the language of Christian moral discourse as revealed in letters, testaments, and "moral stories"; the rituals, meetings, and institutionalization of charity; the Christians' feelings about celibacy, sex, and gender roles; and their sense of the end-time and final judgment. In each of these areas Meeks seeks to determine what is distinctive about the Christian viewpoint and what is similar to the moral components of Greco-Roman or Jewish thought.

Download or read book Morals and Markets written by Viviana A. Rotman Zelizer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life insurance—the promise of an insurer to pay a sum upon a person's death in exchange for a regular premium—is a bizarre enterprise. How can we monetize human life? Should we? What statistics do we use, what assumptions do we make, and what behavioral factors do we consider? First published in 1979, Morals and Markets Is a pathbreaking study exploring the development of life insurance in the United States. Viviana A. Rotman Zelizer combines economic history and a sociological perspective to advance a novel interpretation of the life insurance industry. The book pioneered a cultural approach to the analysis of morally controversial markets. Zelizer begins in the mid-nineteenth century with the rise of the life insurance industry, a contentious chapter in the history of American business. Life insurance was stigmatized at first, denounced in newspapers and condemned by religious leaders as an immoral and sacrilegious gamble on human life. Over time, the business became a widely praised arrangement to secure a family's future. How did life insurance overcome cultural barriers? As Zelizer shows, the evolution of the industry in the United States matched evolving attitudes toward death, money, family relations, property, and personal legacy.