Virtue and Meaning

Virtue and Meaning
Author: David McPherson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2020-01-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1108477887

Argues that any adequate neo-Aristotelian virtue ethic must account for our distinctive nature as the meaning-seeking animal.

Virtue and Meaning

Virtue and Meaning
Author: David McPherson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-02-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1108804713

The revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics can be seen as a response to the modern problem of disenchantment, that is, the perceived loss of meaning in modernity. However, in Virtue and Meaning, David McPherson contends that the dominant approach still embraces an overly disenchanted view. In a wide-ranging discussion, McPherson argues for a more fully re-enchanted perspective that gives better recognition to the meanings by which we live and after which we seek, and to the fact that human beings are the meaning-seeking animal. In doing so, he defends distinctive accounts of the relationship between virtue and happiness, other-regarding demands, and the significance of linking neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics with a view of the meaning of life and a spiritual life where contemplation has a central role. This book will be valuable for philosophers and other readers who are interested in virtue ethics and the perennial question of the meaning of life.

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.

Truth in Virtue of Meaning

Truth in Virtue of Meaning
Author: Gillian Russell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2008-02-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199232199

The distinction between analytic and synthetic sentences - the idea that some sentences are true or false just in virtue of what they mean - is a famous focus of philosophical controversy. Gillian Russell reinvigorates the debate with a challenging new defence of the distinction, showing that it is compatible with semantic externalism.

Inner Virtue

Inner Virtue
Author: Nicolas Bommarito
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2018
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190673389

Inner virtue and vice -- Pleasure -- Emotion -- Attention -- The relevance of inner virtue

Cultivating Virtue

Cultivating Virtue
Author: Nancy E. Snow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199967423

Though virtue ethics is enjoying a resurgence, the topic of virtue cultivation has been largely neglected by philosophers. This book features essays by philosophers, theologians, and psychologists at the forefront of research into virtue.--Publisher's description.

On Patience

On Patience
Author: Matthew Pianalto
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 149852821X

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.

The Second-Person Perspective in Aquinas’s Ethics

The Second-Person Perspective in Aquinas’s Ethics
Author: Andrew Pinsent
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2013-10-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1136479147

Thomas Aquinas devoted a substantial proportion of his greatest works to the virtues. Yet, despite the availability of these texts (and centuries of commentary), Aquinas’s virtue ethics remains mysterious, leaving readers with many unanswered questions. In this book, Pinsent argues that the key to understanding Aquinas’s approach is to be found in an association between: a) attributes he appends to the virtues, and b) interpersonal capacities investigated by the science of social cognition, especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorder. The book uses this research to argue that Aquinas’s approach to the virtues is radically non-Aristotelian and founded on the concept of second-person relatedness. To demonstrate the explanatory power of this principle, Pinsent shows how the second-person perspective gives interpretation to Aquinas’s descriptions of the virtues and offers a key to long-standing problems, such as the reconciliation of magnanimity and humility. The principle of second-person relatedness also interprets acts that Aquinas describes as the fruition of the virtues. Pinsent concludes by considering how this approach may shape future developments in virtue ethics.

Technology and the Virtues

Technology and the Virtues
Author: Shannon Vallor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2016
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019049851X

New technologies from artificial intelligence to drones, and biomedical enhancement make the future of the human family increasingly hard to predict and protect. This book explores how the philosophical tradition of virtue ethics can help us to cultivate the moral wisdom we need to live wisely and well with emerging technologies.

Burdened Virtues

Burdened Virtues
Author: Lisa Tessman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2005-10-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0198039824

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.