Actual EthicsActual Ethics offers a moral defense of the 'classical liberal' political tradition and applies it to several of today's vexing moral and political issues. James Otteson argues that a Kantian conception of personhood and an Aristotelian conception of judgment are compatible and even complementary. He shows why they are morally attractive, and perhaps most controversially, when combined, they imply a limited, classical liberal political state. Otteson then addresses several contemporary problems - wealth and poverty, public education, animal welfare, and affirmative action - and shows how each can be plausibly addressed within the Kantian, Aristotelian and classical liberal framework. Written in clear, engaging, and jargon-free prose, Actual Ethics will give students and general audiences an overview of a powerful and rich moral and political tradition that they might not otherwise consider. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 63
Page 3
... discuss below, still the conception of human nature as character- ized by a rich mental life and the ability to contemplate and act on that mental life captures the heart of it. However persuasively some have argued that human beings ...
... discuss below, still the conception of human nature as character- ized by a rich mental life and the ability to contemplate and act on that mental life captures the heart of it. However persuasively some have argued that human beings ...
Page 5
... discussion of precisely what the difference between human and nonhuman animals is . We shall investigate that in a bit more detail later in the book . I have instead a different , though related , point to make here . It is this : The ...
... discussion of precisely what the difference between human and nonhuman animals is . We shall investigate that in a bit more detail later in the book . I have instead a different , though related , point to make here . It is this : The ...
Page 12
... discussion of Spencer and how history has smeared his name , see Roderick T. Long's " Herbert Spencer : The Defamation Continues , " http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/long3.html . of people's actions to be experienced by them—even if ...
... discussion of Spencer and how history has smeared his name , see Roderick T. Long's " Herbert Spencer : The Defamation Continues , " http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/long3.html . of people's actions to be experienced by them—even if ...
Page 15
... us to do so. 11 From “American Education,” first published in the May 1931 Atlantic Monthly; reprinted in The State of the Union, p. 174. 17 It is not universally accepted. For recent discussions, see Personhood and Judgment 15.
... us to do so. 11 From “American Education,” first published in the May 1931 Atlantic Monthly; reprinted in The State of the Union, p. 174. 17 It is not universally accepted. For recent discussions, see Personhood and Judgment 15.
Page 17
... discussion of the issues involved , see James Rachels's Elements of Moral Philosophy , chaps . 5 and 6 ; for a recent example of an attempt to refute " egoism , ” see Stuart Rachels , “ Nagelian Arguments against Egoism ” ; for a discussion ...
... discussion of the issues involved , see James Rachels's Elements of Moral Philosophy , chaps . 5 and 6 ; for a recent example of an attempt to refute " egoism , ” see Stuart Rachels , “ Nagelian Arguments against Egoism ” ; for a discussion ...
Contents
Section 20 | 174 |
Section 21 | 192 |
Section 22 | 199 |
Section 23 | 201 |
Section 24 | 217 |
Section 25 | 243 |
Section 26 | 250 |
Section 27 | 266 |
Section 9 | 68 |
Section 10 | 97 |
Section 11 | 102 |
Section 12 | 119 |
Section 13 | 121 |
Section 14 | 126 |
Section 15 | 129 |
Section 16 | 130 |
Section 17 | 155 |
Section 18 | 159 |
Section 19 | 171 |
Section 28 | 278 |
Section 29 | 281 |
Section 30 | 291 |
Section 31 | 297 |
Section 32 | 302 |
Section 33 | 310 |
Section 34 | 312 |
Section 35 | 319 |
Section 36 | 327 |
Section 37 | 334 |
Section 38 | 338 |
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Popular passages
Page 289 - ... that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order...
Page 119 - These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise.
Page 289 - That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
Page 17 - Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man against every man.
Page 182 - ... seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board; he does not consider that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them; but that, in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it.
Page 6 - Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.
Page 37 - That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.
Page 289 - ... yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind...