Goods and Virtues

Goods and Virtues PDF

Author: Michael Slote

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13:

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Offers a critique of prevalent approaches to human good and virtue. Slote shows that typical philosophical accounts of the virtues and human goods oversimplify the subject and that a more exact approach is needed.

Goods and Virtues

Goods and Virtues PDF

Author: Michael A. Slote

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780198244639

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This important and provocative book offers a critique of prevalent approaches to human good and virtue. Slote argues that some personal good and virtues are less absolute than is recognized, being either relative to times of life or possible worlds, or dependent for their value on other goods and virtues. He also criticizes certain familiar restrictions on what counts as a good or virtue, and defends the idea of contra-moral virtues and goods that do not yield reasons for action. The book demonstrates that typical philosophical accounts of the virtues and human goods oversimplify the phenomena, and that a more exact approach is needed.

The Virtues of Happiness

The Virtues of Happiness PDF

Author: Paul Bloomfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-05

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0190612002

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Gives original answers to the questions "Why be moral?" and "Why not be immoral?" ; Combines the ancient Greek conception of happiness with a modern conception of self-respect ; Argues that self-respect is necessary for happiness and s that self-respect is necessary for happiness and that respect for others and respect for self are interdependent ; Contents that self-respect is necessary for happiness and that respect for others and respect for self are interdependent. -- Publisher's website.

A Theory of Virtue

A Theory of Virtue PDF

Author: Robert Merrihew Adams

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 2008-10-23

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0191564494

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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 and defends 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 of sufficient '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.

The Robust Demands of the Good

The Robust Demands of the Good PDF

Author: Philip Pettit

Publisher: Uehiro Practical Ethics

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 0198732600

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Philip Pettit offers a new insight into moral psychology. He shows that attachments such as love, and certain virtues such as honesty, require their characteristic behaviours not only as things actually are, but also in cases where things are different from how they actually are. He explores the implications of this idea for key moral issues.

Virtues and Their Vices

Virtues and Their Vices PDF

Author: Kevin Timpe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 019964554X

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A comprehensive philosophical treatment of the virtues and their competing vices. The first four sections focus on historical classes of virtue: the cardinal virtues, the capital vices and the corrective virtues, intellectual virtues, and the theological virtues. A final section discusses the role of virtue theory in a number of disciplines.

The Book of Virtues

The Book of Virtues PDF

Author: William J. Bennett

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 1917

ISBN-13: 1439126259

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Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith. Everyone recognizes these traits as essentials of good character. In order for our children to develop such traits, we have to offer them examples of good and bad, right and wrong. And the best places to find them are in great works of literature and exemplary stories from history. William J. Bennett has collected hundreds of stories in The Book of Virtues, an instructive and inspiring anthology that will help children understand and develop character -- and help adults teach them. From the Bible to American history, from Greek mythology to English poetry, from fairy tales to modern fiction, these stories are a rich mine of moral literacy, a reliable moral reference point that will help anchor our children and ourselves in our culture, our history, and our traditions -- the sources of the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. Complete with instructive introductions and notes, The Book of Virtues is a book the whole family can read and enjoy -- and learn from -- together.

Socratic Virtue

Socratic Virtue PDF

Author: Naomi Reshotko

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-08-03

Total Pages: 5

ISBN-13: 1139458078

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Socrates was not a moral philosopher. Instead he was a theorist who showed how human desire and human knowledge complement one another in the pursuit of human happiness. His theory allowed him to demonstrate that actions and objects have no value other than that which they derive from their employment by individuals who, inevitably, desire their own happiness and have the knowledge to use actions and objects as a means for its attainment. The result is a naturalised, practical, and demystified account of good and bad, and right and wrong. Professor Reshotko presents a freshly envisioned Socratic theory residing at the intersection of the philosophy of mind and ethics. It makes an important contribution to the study of the Platonic dialogues and will also interest all scholars of ethics and moral psychology.

Technology and the Virtues

Technology and the Virtues PDF

Author: Shannon Vallor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 019049851X

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The 21st century offers a dizzying array of new technological developments: robots smart enough to take white collar jobs, social media tools that manage our most important relationships, ordinary objects that track, record, analyze and share every detail of our daily lives, and biomedical techniques with the potential to transform and enhance human minds and bodies to an unprecedented degree. Emerging technologies are reshaping our habits, practices, institutions, cultures and environments in increasingly rapid, complex and unpredictable ways that create profound risks and opportunities for human flourishing on a global scale. How can our future be protected in such challenging and uncertain conditions? How can we possibly improve the chances that the human family will not only live, but live well, into the 21st century and beyond? This book locates a key to that future in the distant past: specifically, in the philosophical traditions of virtue ethics developed by classical thinkers from Aristotle and Confucius to the Buddha. Each developed a way of seeking the good life that equips human beings with the moral and intellectual character to flourish even in the most unpredictable, complex and unstable situations--precisely where we find ourselves today. Through an examination of the many risks and opportunities presented by rapidly changing technosocial conditions, Vallor makes the case that if we are to have any real hope of securing a future worth wanting, then we will need more than just better technologies. We will also need better humans. Technology and the Virtues develops a practical framework for seeking that goal by means of the deliberate cultivation of technomoral virtues: specific skills and strengths of character, adapted to the unique challenges of 21st century life, that offer the human family our best chance of learning to live wisely and well with emerging technologies.