Two Views of Virtue

Two Views of Virtue PDF Author: F. F. Centore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313002185
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Centore's work is an inquiry into the weaknesses and strengths of the two basic positions in ethics: the man-centered model and the God-centered model for deciding between right and wrong behavior. The philosophical paradigm for the man-centered approach is absolute relativism, while the paradigm for the God-centered approach is relative absolutism. Centore argues that the man-centered model in actual practice proves not to be realistic as an ethical guide, while the God-centered model, if properly understood, is the most useful approach. This work penetrates difficult ethical issues by examining human experience and reasoning in conjunction with actual choices of action. Although the God-centered approach is shown to be the most practical, Centore argues for a natural moral law that avoids any specific theology. Each chapter discusses the historical and theoretical background of the approaches and two possible compromises. The work is enlivened with examples of possible contexts in which moral decisions must take place. Various ethical dilemmas are presented with an examination of the potential consequences of applying either the atheistic or the theistic ethical approach. Centore's argument is complex, but he explains the elements clearly and his conclusion is strengthened by real-life cases and an extensive Bibliography.

Two Views of Virtue

Two Views of Virtue PDF Author: F. F. Centore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313002185
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book

Book Description
Centore's work is an inquiry into the weaknesses and strengths of the two basic positions in ethics: the man-centered model and the God-centered model for deciding between right and wrong behavior. The philosophical paradigm for the man-centered approach is absolute relativism, while the paradigm for the God-centered approach is relative absolutism. Centore argues that the man-centered model in actual practice proves not to be realistic as an ethical guide, while the God-centered model, if properly understood, is the most useful approach. This work penetrates difficult ethical issues by examining human experience and reasoning in conjunction with actual choices of action. Although the God-centered approach is shown to be the most practical, Centore argues for a natural moral law that avoids any specific theology. Each chapter discusses the historical and theoretical background of the approaches and two possible compromises. The work is enlivened with examples of possible contexts in which moral decisions must take place. Various ethical dilemmas are presented with an examination of the potential consequences of applying either the atheistic or the theistic ethical approach. Centore's argument is complex, but he explains the elements clearly and his conclusion is strengthened by real-life cases and an extensive Bibliography.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin PDF Author: Benjamin Franklin
Publisher: Google Auto-narrated Demo
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Franklin's Autobiography has received widespread praise, both for its historical value as a record of an important early American and for its literary style. This work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written. This title is based on the Harvard Classics edition.

Nicomachean Ethics

Nicomachean Ethics PDF Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781539784388
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
The Ethics of Aristotle is one half of a single treatise of which his Politics is the other half. Both deal with one and the same subject. This subject is what Aristotle calls in one place the "philosophy of human affairs;" but more frequently Political or Social Science. In the two works taken together we have their author's whole theory of human conduct or practical activity, that is, of all human activity which is not directed merely to knowledge or truth. The Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle's best-known work on ethics. The work, which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum. The title is often assumed to refer to his son Nicomachus, to whom the work was dedicated or who may have edited it (although his young age makes this less likely). Alternatively, the work may have been dedicated to his father, who was also called Nicomachus. The theme of the work is a Socratic question previously explored in the works of Plato, Aristotle's friend and teacher, of how men should best live. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle described how Socrates, the friend and teacher of Plato, had turned philosophy to human questions, whereas Pre-Socratic philosophy had only been theoretical. Ethics, as now separated out for discussion by Aristotle, is practical rather than theoretical, in the original Aristotelian senses of these terms. In other words, it is not only a contemplation about good living, because it also aims to create good living. It is therefore connected to Aristotle's other practical work, the Politics, which similarly aims at people becoming good. Ethics is about how individuals should best live, while the study of politics is from the perspective of a law-giver, looking at the good of a whole community.

The Art of Virtue

The Art of Virtue PDF Author: Benjamin Franklin
Publisher: Skyhorse
ISBN: 9781510728059
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
An indispensable guide to right living from a Founding Father. Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation’s most revered founders, was a man of uncommonly fine common sense. Although he was never able to finish his project of compiling a comprehensive compendium of practical wisdom, he was able to lay down the beginnings of this work in his later writings. Collected within this volume are Franklin's writings organized around his timeless philosophy on living well, containing his thoughts on justice, moderation, chastity, and more. The Art of Virtue is a simple, concise, and illuminating guide to living a virtuous and fulfilling life. Perfect for readers young and old alike.

Virtue Is Knowledge

Virtue Is Knowledge PDF Author: Lorraine Smith Pangle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022613668X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The relation between virtue and knowledge is at the heart of the Socratic view of human excellence, but it also points to a central puzzle of the Platonic dialogues: Can Socrates be serious in his claims that human excellence is constituted by one virtue, that vice is merely the result of ignorance, and that the correct response to crime is therefore not punishment but education? Or are these assertions mere rhetorical ploys by a notoriously complex thinker? Lorraine Smith Pangle traces the argument for the primacy of virtue and the power of knowledge throughout the five dialogues that feature them most prominently—the Apology, Gorgias, Protagoras, Meno, and Laws—and reveals the truth at the core of these seemingly strange claims. She argues that Socrates was more aware of the complex causes of human action and of the power of irrational passions than a cursory reading might suggest. Pangle’s perceptive analyses reveal that many of Socrates’s teachings in fact explore the factors that make it difficult for humans to be the rational creatures that he at first seems to claim. Also critical to Pangle’s reading is her emphasis on the political dimensions of the dialogues. Underlying many of the paradoxes, she shows, is a distinction between philosophic and civic virtue that is critical to understanding them. Ultimately, Pangle offers a radically unconventional way of reading Socrates’s views of human excellence: Virtue is not knowledge in any ordinary sense, but true virtue is nothing other than wisdom.

The Virtue of Aristotle's Ethics

The Virtue of Aristotle's Ethics PDF Author: Paula Gottlieb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052176176X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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

Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics

Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics PDF Author: Tara Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139455109
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
Ayn Rand is well known for advocating egoism, but the substance of that instruction is rarely understood. Far from representing the rejection of morality, selfishness, in Rand's view, actually demands the practice of a systematic code of ethics. This book explains the fundamental virtues that Rand considers vital for a person to achieve his objective well-being: rationality, honesty, independence, justice, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Tracing Rand's account of the harmony of human beings' rational interests, Smith examines what each of these virtues consists of, why it is a virtue, and what it demands of a person in practice. Along the way she addresses the status of several conventional virtues within Rand's theory, considering traits such as kindness, charity, generosity, temperance, courage, forgiveness, and humility. Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics thus offers an in-depth exploration of several specific virtues and an illuminating integration of these with the broader theory of egoism.

An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue

An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue PDF Author: Francis Hutcheson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aesthetics
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description


Intellectual Virtue

Intellectual Virtue PDF Author: Michael Raymond DePaul
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0199219125
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
"Virtue ethics has attracted a lot of attention and there has been considerable interest in virtue epistemology as an alternative to traditional approaches in that field. This book fills a gap in the literature for a text that brings virtue epistemologists and virtue ethicists together."-- Back cover.

Current Controversies in Virtue Theory

Current Controversies in Virtue Theory PDF Author: Mark Alfano
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317541626
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
Virtue is among the most venerable concepts in philosophy, and has recently seen a major revival. However, new challenges to conceptions of virtue have also arisen. In Current Controversies in Virtue Theory, five pairs of cutting-edge philosophers square off over central topics in virtue theory: the nature of virtue, the connection between virtue and flourishing, the connection between moral and epistemic virtues, the way in which virtues are acquired, and the possibility of attaining virtue. Mark Alfano guides his readers through these essays (all published here for the first time), with a synthetic introduction, succinct abstracts of each debate, suggested further readings and study questions for each controversy, and a list of further controversies to be explored.