Person, Polis, Planet

Person, Polis, Planet
Author: David Schmidtz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2008-09-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199710872

This volume collects thirteen of David Schmidtz's essays on the question of what it takes to live a good life, given that we live in a social and natural world. Part One defends a non-maximizing conception of rational choice, explains how even ultimate goals can be rationally chosen, defends the rationality of concern and regard for others (even to the point of being willing to die for a cause), and explains why decision theory is necessarily incomplete as a tool for addressing such issues. Part Two uses the tools of analytic philosophy to explain what we can do to be deserving ,what is wrong with the idea that we ought to do as much good as we can, why mutual aid is good, but why the welfare state does not work as a way of institutionalizing mutual aid, and why transferring wealth from those who need it less to those who need it more can be a bad idea even from a utilitarian perspective. Most ambitiously, Part Two offers an overarching, pluralistic moral theory that defines the nature and limits of our obligations to each other and to our individual selves. Part Three discusses the history and economic logic of alternative property institutions, both private and communal, and explains why economic logic is an indispensable tool in the field of environmental conflict resolution. In the final essay, Schmidtz brings the volume full circle by considering the nature and limits of our obligations to nonhuman species, and how the status of nonhuman species ought to enter into our deliberations about what sort of life is worth living.

Person, Polis, Planet

Person, Polis, Planet
Author: David Schmidtz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190454296

This volume collects thirteen of David Schmidtz's essays on the question of what it takes to live a good life, given that we live in a social and natural world. Part One defends a non-maximizing conception of rational choice, explains how even ultimate goals can be rationally chosen, defends the rationality of concern and regard for others (even to the point of being willing to die for a cause), and explains why decision theory is necessarily incomplete as a tool for addressing such issues. Part Two uses the tools of analytic philosophy to explain what we can do to be deserving ,what is wrong with the idea that we ought to do as much good as we can, why mutual aid is good, but why the welfare state does not work as a way of institutionalizing mutual aid, and why transferring wealth from those who need it less to those who need it more can be a bad idea even from a utilitarian perspective. Most ambitiously, Part Two offers an overarching, pluralistic moral theory that defines the nature and limits of our obligations to each other and to our individual selves. Part Three discusses the history and economic logic of alternative property institutions, both private and communal, and explains why economic logic is an indispensable tool in the field of environmental conflict resolution. In the final essay, Schmidtz brings the volume full circle by considering the nature and limits of our obligations to nonhuman species, and how the status of nonhuman species ought to enter into our deliberations about what sort of life is worth living.

The Virtue of Aristotle's Ethics

The Virtue of Aristotle's Ethics
Author: Paula Gottlieb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2009-04-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 052176176X

This text looks at Aristotle's claims, particularly the much-maligned doctrine of the mean.

Polis

Polis
Author: Mogens Herman Hansen
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2006-10-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199208492

An accessible introduction to the polis (plural: poleis), or ancient Greek city-state. Mogens Herman Hansen addresses such topics as the emergence of the polis, its size and population, and its political culture, ranging from famous poleis such as Athens and Sparta through more than 1,000 known examples.

Polis & Politics

Polis & Politics
Author: Pernille Flensted-Jensen
Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9788772896281

Contains 35 articles devoted to different aspects of the Greek polis and is intended not only as a present for Mogens Herman Hansen on his sixtieth birthday, but also as a way of thanking him for his significant contributions to the field of Greek history over the past three decades.

The Person and the Common Life

The Person and the Common Life
Author: J.G. Hart
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2013-11-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9401579911

What follows attempts to synthesize Husserl's social ethics and to integrate the themes of this topic into his larger philosophical concerns. Chapter I proceeds with the hypothesis that Husser! believed that all of life could be examined and lived by the transcendental phenomenologist, and therefore action was not something which one did isolated from one's commitment to being philosophical within the noetic-noematic field. Therefore besides attempting to be clear about the meaning of the reduction it relates the reduction to ethical life. Chapter II shows that the agent, properly understood, i. e. , the person, is a moral theme, indeed, reflection on the person involves an ethical reduction which leads into the essentials of moral categoriality, the topic of Chapter IV. Chapter III mediates the transcendental ego, individual person, and the social matrix by showing how the common life comes about and what the constitutive processes and ingredients of this life are. It also shows how the foundations of this life are imbued with themes which adumbrate moral categoriality discussed in Chapter IV. The final Chapters, V and VI, articulate the communitarian ideal, "the godly person of a higher order," emergent in Chapters II, III and IV, in terms of social-political and theological specifications of what this "godly" life looks like.

Needs, Values, Truth

Needs, Values, Truth
Author: David Wiggins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 1998
Genre: Ethics
ISBN: 9780198237198

Needs, Values, Truth brings together of some of the most important and influential writings by a leading contemporary philosopher, drawn from twenty-five years of his work in the broad area of the philosophy of value. The author ranges between problems of ethics, meta-ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of logic and language, looking at questions relating to meaning, truth and objectivity in judgements of value. For this third edition he has added a new essay on incommensurability, in addition to making minor revisions to the existing text. The volume will stand as a definitive summation of his work in this area.

Plato's 'Republic': An Introduction

Plato's 'Republic': An Introduction
Author: Sean McAleer
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2020-11-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1800640560

It is an excellent book – highly intelligent, interesting and original. Expressing high philosophy in a readable form without trivialising it is a very difficult task and McAleer manages the task admirably. Plato is, yet again, intensely topical in the chaotic and confused world in which we are now living. Philip Allott, Professor Emeritus of International Public Law at Cambridge University This book is a lucid and accessible companion to Plato’s Republic, throwing light upon the text’s arguments and main themes, placing them in the wider context of the text’s structure. In its illumination of the philosophical ideas underpinning the work, it provides readers with an understanding and appreciation of the complexity and literary artistry of Plato’s Republic. McAleer not only unpacks the key overarching questions of the text – What is justice? And Is a just life happier than an unjust life? – but also highlights some fascinating, overlooked passages which contribute to our understanding of Plato’s philosophical thought. Plato’s 'Republic': An Introduction offers a rigorous and thought-provoking analysis of the text, helping readers navigate one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory. With its approachable tone and clear presentation, it constitutes a welcome contribution to the field, and will be an indispensable resource for philosophy students and teachers, as well as general readers new to, or returning to, the text.

Aristotle's Anthropology

Aristotle's Anthropology
Author: Geert Keil
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2019-05-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107192692

The first collection of essays on Aristotle's philosophy of human nature, covering the metaphysical, biological and ethical works.