Thoreau's Living Ethics: Walden and the Pursuit of VirtueUniversity of Georgia Press, 25 de jan. de 2010 - 288 páginas Thoreau's Living Ethics is the first full, rigorous account of Henry Thoreau's ethical philosophy. Focused on Walden but ranging widely across his writings, the study situates Thoreau within a long tradition of ethical thinking in the West, from the ancients to the Romantics and on to the present day. Philip Cafaro shows Thoreau grappling with important ethical questions that agitated his own society and discusses his value for those seeking to understand contemporary ethical issues. Cafaro's particular interest is in Thoreau's treatment of virtue ethics: the branch of ethics centered on personal and social flourishing. Ranging across the central elements of Thoreau's philosophy—life, virtue, economy, solitude and society, nature, and politics—Cafaro shows Thoreau developing a comprehensive virtue ethics, less based in ancient philosophy than many recent efforts and more grounded in modern life and experience. He presents Thoreau's evolutionary, experimental ethics as superior to the more static foundational efforts of current virtue ethicists. Another main focus is Thoreau's environmental ethics. The book shows Thoreau not only anticipating recent arguments for wild nature's intrinsic value, but also demonstrating how a personal connection to nature furthers self-development, moral character, knowledge, and creativity. Thoreau's life and writings, argues Cafaro, present a positive, life-affirming environmental ethics, combining respect and restraint with an appreciation for human possibilities for flourishing within nature. |
De dentro do livro
Resultados 1-5 de 86
... contend that Thoreau provides a framework for developing virtue ethics superior to that utilized by most contemporary philosophers. Second, I want to suggest to environmentalists and environmental philosophers ix Preface.
Walden and the Pursuit of Virtue Philip Cafaro. Second, I want to suggest to environmentalists and environmental philosophers a valuable new way to think about our proper place in the world, one which rejects both narrowly economic and ...
... the current state of society, we parcel these functions out to different individuals. But all express or minister to the needs of human beings, and all teach their own lessons . In their totality , they suggest 2 the challenge.
... suggest a complete conception of human being that appreciates our possibilities . Currently , most men sell a good part of their day in order to support themselves and their families . This is not necessarily wrong or unjust , yet it ...
... suggest improvements. For both the literary class and for ordinary people, there are new pos- sibilities and challenges, and ... suggests and encourages this thought: "the time is already come, when [our lives] ought to be, and will be ...
Conteúdo
1 | |
16 | |
Virtue | 45 |
Economy | 76 |
Solitude and Society | 106 |
Nature | 139 |
Politics | 174 |
Foundations | 205 |
Death | 230 |
A Note to the Reader | 237 |
Notes | 239 |
Bibliography | 259 |
Index | 265 |