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| the moral life: Friendship and the Moral Life Paul J. Wadell, 1989 Friendship and the Moral Life is not simply a theoretical argument about how moral theology might be done if it took friendship more seriously. Rather, the book exhibits how without friendship, our lives are morally not worth living. The book begins with a consideration of why a new model of the moral life is needed. Wadell then examines the ethics of Aristotle, who viewed the moral life as based on a specific understanding of the purpose of being human, with friendship being an important factor in enabling people to acquire virtues necessary for achieving this purpose. Through the thought of Augustine, Aelred of Reivaulx, and Karl Barth, the question is raised whether friendship is at odds with Christian love or whether their relation depends on one's narrative account of friendship. Thomas Aquinas' understanding of charity as friendship with God is examined to clarify this relationship. By locating friendship within the story of God's redemption through Christ, Wadell helps us see why friendship properly understood is integral to the Christian life and not at odds with it. Such a friendship draws us to love all others who seek God and teaches us not to restrict our concern to a special few in preferential love. The book closes by investigating how friendship as a model for the moral life might work in everyday life. |
| the moral life: Christ and the Moral Life James M. Gustafson, 1979-06-15 In this work, originally published in 1968, the distinguished theologian James M. Gustafson asks the fundamental question, What is the significance of Jesus Christ for the moral life? His answer is in the form of an ethical map, showing the ways in which theological affirmations about Christ relate to moral life in the writings of a number of important Christian thinkers. |
| the moral life: The Moral Life of Schools Philip W. Jackson, Robert E. Boostrom, David T. Hansen, 1998-03-16 Rarely have I come across a book that so quickly provoked me to re-examine my own classroom behavior. There is no place to hide in this careful scrutiny of the teacher as crucial player in the daily morality tale that becomes the story of school life. -- Vivian Gussin Paley, teacher, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools This book takes the reader on an eye-opening journey through a variety of elementary and high school classrooms, highlighting the moral significance of all that transpires there. Drawing on the results of a two-and-a-half year study, the authors examine the ways in which moral considerations permeate the everyday life of classrooms. In addition to providing teachers and teacher educators with a new framework for looking at and thinking about the moral dimensions of schooling, the authors also offer specific suggestions about how to look at classroom events from a moral perspective. Contents One. Looking for the Moral: An Observer's Guide Two. Becoming Aware of Moral Complexity Within a School Setting: Four Sets of Observations Three. Facing Moral Ambiguity and Tension: Four More Sets of Observations Four. Cultivating Expressive Awareness in Schools and Classrooms Postscript: Where Might One Go from Here? Philip W. Jackson is the David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor of Education and Psychology and a member of the Committee on Ideas and Methods at the University of Chicago. Robert E. Boostrom is a senior research associate of the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Chicago. David T. Hansen is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago |
| the moral life: Disorientation and Moral Life Ami Harbin, 2016-04-01 This book is a philosophical exploration of disorientation and its significance for action. Disorientations are human experiences of losing one's bearings, such that life is disrupted and it is not clear how to go on. In the face of life experiences like trauma, grief, illness, migration, education, queer identification, and consciousness raising, individuals can be deeply disoriented. These and other disorientations are not rare. Although disorientations can be common and powerful parts of individuals' lives, they remain uncharacterized by Western philosophers, and overlooked by ethicists. Disorientations can paralyze, overwhelm, embitter, and misdirect moral agents, and moral philosophy and motivational psychology have important insights to offer into why this is. More perplexing are the ways disorientations may prompt improved moral action. Ami Harbin draws on first person accounts, philosophical texts, and qualitative and quantitative research to show that in some cases of disorientation, individuals gain new forms of awareness of political complexity and social norms, and new habits of relating to others and an unpredictable moral landscape. She then argues for the moral and political promise of these gains. A major contention of the book is that disorientations have 'non-resolutionary effects': they can help us act without first helping us resolve what to do. In exploring these possibilities, Disorientation and Moral Life contributes to philosophy of emotions, moral philosophy, and political thought from a distinctly feminist perspective. It makes the case for seeing disorientations as having the power to motivate profound and long-term shifts in moral and political action. A feminist re-envisioning of moral psychology provides the framework for understanding how they do so. |
| the moral life: Happiness and the Christian Moral Life Paul J. Wadell, 2012 Happiness and the Christian Moral Life introduces students to Christian Ethics looking at ethics as a path to the good life and happiness, rather than a strict set of rules. Revisions and updates include lists of suggested readings and resources, new discussions of how technology shapes relationships, a more fully developed account of Augustine and happiness, and more. |
| the moral life: Henry James and Modern Moral Life Robert B. Pippin, 2001-07-19 This book argues that Henry James reveals in his fiction a sophisticated theory of moral understanding. |
| the moral life: The Moral Life Tony L. Moyers, 2011 The Moral Life: Obligation and Affirmation examines the broad scope of moral thought and behavior over the centuries. Moyers considers the notion of morals from various perspectives, asking: if everything is a matter of interpretation and morality is not written in stone, then how should we live? |
| the moral life: The Moral Life Steven Luper, Curtis Brown, 1999 The second edition of THE MORAL LIFE covers a wide variety of applied ethical issues, from issues that confront the individual to international, intergenerational, and interspecies issues. The diverse readings cover a range of differing viewpoints chosen to stimulate class discussions. |
| the moral life: Liberalism and Moral Life , 1989 |
| the moral life: What Really Matters Arthur Kleinman, 2007 Through arresting narratives we meet a woman aiding refugees in sub-Saharan Africa, facing the chaos of a meaningless society and a doctor trying to stay alive during Mao's cultural revolution - individuals challenged by their societies and caught up in existential moral experiences that define what it means to be human. |
| the moral life: A Decent Life Todd May, 2021-05-07 Can we lead a fundamentally decent life without taking such drastic steps? Todd May has answers. He's not the sort of philosopher who tells us we have to be model citizens who display perfect ethics in every decision we make. He's realistic: he understands that living up to ideals is a constant struggle. May leads readers through the traditional philosophical bases of a number of arguments about what ethics asks of us, then he develops a more reasonable and achievable way of thinking about them, one that shows us how we can use philosophical insights to participate in the complicated world around us. |
| the moral life: William James and the Moral Life Todd Lekan, 2022 This book offers a compelling new interpretation of James' moral philosophy: an ethics of responsible self-fashioning. James' performative writing style articulates this conception by showing how moral inquiry serves both social and personal transformation. James the social moral philosopher seeks to create an inclusive moral order through expansion of sympathetic concern among those committed to different ideals. James the existential moral philosopher defends the right to adopt hope-grounding metaphysical beliefs which encourage strenuous moral action in the face of evil and suffering. The power of James' ethics is demonstrated by its application to current discussions about the status of marginalized nonhuman animals and that of the cognitively disabled. William James and the Moral Life is of interest to a wide variety of ethicists and has special appeal to scholars and advanced students in moral philosophy, social philosophy, pragmatism, and American philosophy-- |
| the moral life: Ethics Wilhelm Max Wundt, 1901 |
| the moral life: Happiness and the Christian Moral Life Paul J. Wadell, 2016-05-20 This book introduces Christian ethics through the lens of happiness, suggesting that the heart of ethics is not rules but our deep desire for fulfillment. Revised throughout, the third edition features global examples, discussions of contemporary topics such as hook-up culture, consideration of Pope Francis’s teachings, and more. |
| the moral life: Naked Krista K. Thomason, 2018-01-04 We know shame can be a morally valuable emotion that helps us to realize when we fail to be the kinds of people we aspire to be. We feel shame when we fail to live up to the norms, standards, and ideals that we value as part of a virtuous life. But the lived reality of shame is far more complex and far darker than this -- the gut-level experience of shame that has little to do with failing to reach our ideals. We feel shame viscerally about nudity, sex, our bodies, and weaknesses or flaws that we can't control. Shame can cause self-destructive and violent behavior, and chronic shame can cause painful psychological damage. Is shame a valuable moral emotion, or would we be better off without it? In Naked, Krista K. Thomason takes a hard look at the reality of shame. The experience of it, she argues, involves a tension between identity and self-conception: namely, what causes me shame both overshadows me (my self-conception) and yet is me (my identity). We are liable to feelings of shame because we are not always who we take ourselves to be. Thomason extends her thought-provoking analysis to our current social and political landscape: shaming has increased dramatically because of the proliferation of social media platforms. And although these online shaming practices can be used in harmful ways, they can also root out those who express racist and sexist views, and enable marginalized groups to confront oppression. Is more and continued shaming therefore better, and is there moral promise in using shame in this way? Thomason grapples with these and numerous other questions. Her account of shame makes sense of its good and bad features, its numerous gradations and complexity, and ultimately of its essential place in our moral lives. |
| the moral life: Religion, Politics, and the Moral Life Michael Oakeshott, 2011-02-03 Michael Oakeshott's interest in religion and theology was especially prominent in his essays of the 1920s and 1930s. This book consists of four important unpublished pieces, together with six essays by Oakeshott that originally appeared in remote and inaccessible journals. Much of the collection was written early in his career and reveals not only Oakeshott's initial intellectual preoccupations but the idiosyncratic nature of his religious outlook and the moral convictions that governed his own life. The opening essay, Religion and the World, which dates from 1925, reflects his view of what it means to live religiously in the world and prefigures arguments later elaborated in Experience and Its Modes. All the essays probe the meaning of words commonly--but often inappropriately--used in the discussion of political life. Thus Oakeshott explores meanings of religion and worldliness, society and sociality, authority and the state, political activity, and the character of political ideas and political philosophy. His writing is persuasive and compelling, and the essays are distinguished by great clarity and a genuinely philosophic spirit. In a substantial introduction, Timothy Fuller provides the first full explanation of Oakeshott's religious ideas, setting them within their philosophical and political contexts. He shows how, over a thirty-year period, Oakeshott elaborated the implications of Experience and Its Modes, worked out his political theory as summarized in Rationalism in Politics, and gradually assembled his own philosophical account of the ideal that European civilization had made concrete in history--civil association under the rule of law--and to which he gave definitive expression in On Human Contact. Timothy Fuller is Dean of the College, Colorado College, and editor of The Voice of Liberal Learning: Michael Oakeshott on Education. |
| the moral life: The Moral Life Professor Steven (Trinity University Luper, Texas), Steven Luper, 2005-01-05 The second edition of THE MORAL LIFE covers a wide variety of applied ethical issues, from issues that confront the individual to international, intergenerational, and interspecies issues. The diverse readings cover a range of differing viewpoints chosen to stimulate class discussions. |
| the moral life: The Christian Moral Life Timothy F. Sedgwick, 2008-11-01 “A book to enjoy and savour. . . . As a gentle and reverent depiction of whole practice of Anglican moral theology and practice, it is splendid.”—The Anglican Theological Review Written in a style accessible to non-specialists, this book provides teachers, pastors, counselors, and general readers with an ideal introduction to Christian ethics. It renews the topic of Christian ethics by showing readers that faithful moral living is achieved through the daily practices of grace and godliness. The author first explores the foundations of Christian ethics as seen by both Catholics and Protestants, and then develops a constructive view of morality as a way of life. Taking into account the central themes of Christian ethics, he shows that effective piety is built on spiritual disciplines that deepen our experience of God: prayer, worship, self-examination, simplicity, and acts of hospitality. |
| the moral life: Ethical Wisdom Mark Matousek, 2012-06-04 From the best-selling author of Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story What lies behind the decisions that shape our moral universe? Mark Matousek takes a fascinating journey inside what makes us good (or not) Since the days of the first primitive tribes, we have tried to determine why one man is good and another evil. Mark Matousek arrives at the answer in Ethical Wisdom. Contrary to what we've been taught in our reason-obsessed culture, emotions are the bedrock of ethical life; without them, human beings cannot be empathic, moral or good. But how do we make the judgement call between self-interest and caring for others? What does being good really mean? Which parts of morality are biological, which ethical? When should instinct be trusted and when does it lead us into trouble? How can we know ourselves to be good amidst the hypocrisy, fears and sabotaging appetites that pervade our two-sided natures? Drawing on the latest scientific research and interviews with social scientists, spiritual leaders, ex-cons, altruists and philosophers, Matousek examines morality from a scientific, sociological, and anthropological standpoint. Each chapter features a series of questions, readings, interviews, parables and anecdotes that zoom in on a particular niche of moral enquiry, making this book both utilitarian and fun. Ethical Wisdom is an insightful and important book for readers crisscrossing their own murky moral terrain. |
| the moral life: Ethics and Experience Tim Chappell, 2014-12-05 Ethics and Experience presents a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction to the question famously posed by Socrates: How is life to be lived? 'An excellent primer for any student taking a course on moral philosophy, the book introduces ethics as a single and broadly unified field of inquiry in which we apply reason to try and solve Socrates' question. Ethics and Experience examines the major forms of ethical subjectivism and objectivism - including expressivism, error theory', naturalism, and intuitionism. The book lays out the detail of the most significant contemporary moral theories - including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, Kantianism, and contractarianism - and reconsiders these theories in the light of two questions that should perhaps be asked more often: Is moral theory, with its tendency to regiment ethical thought and experience, really the best way for us to apply reason to deciding how to live? And, might it not be more truly reasonable to look for less system and more insight? |
| the moral life: Moral Disquiet and Human Life Monique Canto-Sperber, 2008 Attempting to steer moral philosophy away from abstract theorizing, this title argues that moral philosophy should be a practical, rational, and argumentative engagement with reality, and that moral reflection should have direct effects on our lives and the world in which we live. |
| the moral life: The Ethics of Everyday Life Michael C. Banner, 2014 Why do we have children and what do we raise them for? Does the proliferation of depictions of suffering in the media enhance, or endanger, compassion? How do we live and die well in the extended periods of debility which old age now threatens? Why and how should we grieve for the dead? And how should we properly remember other grief and grievances? In addressing such questions, the Christian imagination of human life has been powerfully shaped by the imagination of Christ's life Christs conception, birth, suffering, death, and burial have been subjects of profound attention in Christian thought, just as they are moments of special interest and concern in each and every human life. However, they are also sites of contention and controversy, where what it is to be human is discovered, constructed, and contested. Conception, birth, suffering, burial, and death are occasions, in other words, for profound and continuing questioning regarding the meaning of human life, as controversies to do with IVF, abortion, euthanasia, and the use of bodies and body parts post mortem, indicate. In The Ethics of Everyday Life, Michael Banner argues that moral theology must reconceive its nature and tasks if it is not only to articulate its own account of human being, but also to enter into constructive contention with other accounts. In particular, it must be willing to learn from and engage with social anthropology if it is to offer powerful and plausible portrayals of the moral life and answers to the questions which trouble modernity. Drawing in wide-ranging fashion from social anthropology and from Christian thought and practice from many periods, and influenced especially by his engagement in public policy matters including as a member of the UK's Human Tissue Authority, Banner develops the outlines of an everyday ethics, stretching from before the cradle to after the grave. |
| the moral life: Spirit Ethics Paul T. Jersild, 2000 How can Christians responsibly derive moral guidance from the Bible on pressing issues of personal and social morality today? Jersild's book sets the context for a study of Scripture and the moral life in a postmodern, pluralist society with its impact on biblical studies. The ethical contents and authority of Scripture are addressed, and a Spirit ethics is proposed as a way of developing a biblically based Christian ethics. Christians cannot simply adopt a once-and-for-all set of rules nor simply cite Bible verses against the latest sins. Absolutely essential, says Jersild, is the ongoing engagement of the church with the moral environment of society and the issues that this raises for the church. Jersild applies his model fruitfully and persuasively to three pressing and perplexing issues: assisted suicide, homosexuality, and genetic programs. |
| the moral life: Wittgenstein and the Moral Life Cora Diamond, 2007 Essays by leading scholars that take as their point of departure Cora Diamond's work on the unity of Wittgenstein's thought and her writings on moral philosophy. |
| the moral life: Moral Matters Barbara S. Stengel, Alan R. Tom, 2006-09-08 Most of us agree that moral issues matter, but how do they fit into the context of our schools? Since A Nation at Risk, most educators and policymakers have focused on the academic dimensions of schooling governed by standards and testing. This timely book explores the ways that committed K–12 educators have attempted to make the moral visible in American schooling over the past 25 years. The authors look at their efforts, using an analytic framework that distinguishes five possible ways that the moral and the academic can be related in schooling. Book Features: A useful survey of moral education that enables the reader to arrive at personal judgments about the value and weaknesses of various approaches. Case studies that illustrate the moral education of students, the moral component of teachers’ work, and the moral dimensions of school structure. A mixture of philosophical analysis and attention to school practice suitable for courses and accessible to teachers, administrators, policymakers, and parents. |
| the moral life: The Meaning of Sex Dennis P. Hollinger, 2009-06-01 Our culture is not only sex-crazed but also deeply confused about sex and sexual ethics. Unfortunately, Christians seem equally confused, and the church has tended to respond with simplistic answers. The reason for this confusion is that the meaning of sex has been largely lost. Dennis Hollinger argues that there is indeed a God-given meaning to sex. This meaning, found in the Christian worldview, provides a framework for a biblical sexual ethic that adequately addresses the many contemporary moral issues. The Meaning of Sex provides a good balance between accessible theology and engaging discussion of the practical issues Christians are facing, including premarital sex, sex within marriage, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, and faithful living in a sex-obsessed world. |
| the moral life: Techne in Aristotle's Ethics Tom Angier, 2010-01-01 Argues for the importance of the concept of 'techne' in constructing a new understanding of Aristotle's moral philosophy. |
| the moral life: The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch Heather Widdows, 2017-03-02 Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy, although highly influential in 20th century moral theory, is somewhat unsystematic and inaccessible. In this work Widdows outlines the moral vision of Iris Murdoch in its entirety and draws out the implications of her thought for the contemporary ethical debate, discussing such aspects of Murdoch's work as the influence of Plato on her conception of The Good, the reality of the human moral experience, the attainment of knowledge of moral values and how art and religion inform the living of the moral life. Examining all of Murdoch's contributions to moral philosophy from her short papers to Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, Heather Widdows provides an accessible and systematised account of Murdoch's moral concepts and offers a clear and critical exposition of her thought. By clarifying Murdoch's central themes, core ideas and her picture of the moral life, this book enables her work to be more easily understood and so utilised in current debates. |
| the moral life: The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge Dallas Willard, 2018-06-12 Based on an unfinished manuscript by the late philosopher Dallas Willard, this book makes the case that the 20th century saw a massive shift in Western beliefs and attitudes concerning the possibility of moral knowledge, such that knowledge of the moral life and of its conduct is no longer routinely available from the social institutions long thought to be responsible for it. In this sense, moral knowledge—as a publicly available resource for living—has disappeared. Via a detailed survey of main developments in ethical theory from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries, Willard explains philosophy’s role in this shift. In pointing out the shortcomings of these developments, he shows that the shift was not the result of rational argument or discovery, but largely of arational social forces—in other words, there was no good reason for moral knowledge to have disappeared. The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge is a unique contribution to the literature on the history of ethics and social morality. Its review of historical work on moral knowledge covers a wide range of thinkers including T.H Green, G.E Moore, Charles L. Stevenson, John Rawls, and Alasdair MacIntyre. But, most importantly, it concludes with a novel proposal for how we might reclaim moral knowledge that is inspired by the phenomenological approach of Knud Logstrup and Emmanuel Levinas. Edited and eventually completed by three of Willard’s former graduate students, this book marks the culmination of Willard’s project to find a secure basis in knowledge for the moral life. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. Any third party material in this book is not included in the OA Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Please direct any permissions enquiries to the original rightsholder. Funded by: Dallas Willard Ministries and the Willard Family Trust |
| the moral life: Deep China Arthur Kleinman, Yunxiang Yan, Jing Jun, Dr. Sing Lee, Everett Zhang, 2011-09-26 Deep China investigates the emotional and moral lives of the Chinese people as they adjust to the challenges of modernity. Sharing a medical anthropology and cultural psychiatry perspective, Arthur Kleinman, Yunxiang Yan, Jing Jun, Sing Lee, Everett Zhang, Pan Tianshu, Wu Fei, and Guo Jinhua delve into intimate and sometimes hidden areas of personal life and social practice to observe and narrate the drama of Chinese individualization. The essays explore the remaking of the moral person during China’s profound social and economic transformation, unraveling the shifting practices and struggles of contemporary life. |
| the moral life: The Second-Person Standpoint Stephen Darwall, 2009-09-30 Why should we avoid doing moral wrong? The inability of philosophy to answer this question in a compelling manner—along with the moral skepticism and ethical confusion that ensue—result, Stephen Darwall argues, from our failure to appreciate the essentially interpersonal character of moral obligation. After showing how attempts to vindicate morality have tended to change the subject—falling back on nonmoral values or practical, first-person considerations—Darwall elaborates the interpersonal nature of moral obligations: their inherent link to our responsibilities to one another as members of the moral community. As Darwall defines it, the concept of moral obligation has an irreducibly second-person aspect; it presupposes our authority to make claims and demands on one another. And so too do many other central notions, including those of rights, the dignity of and respect for persons, and the very concept of person itself. The result is nothing less than a fundamental reorientation of moral theory that enables it at last to account for morality's supreme authority—an account that Darwall carries from the realm of theory to the practical world of second-person attitudes, emotions, and actions. |
| the moral life: Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life Robert Weldon Whalen, 2016-09-01 In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they—dubbed “Murder Inc.,” by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney—were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe “Kid Twist” Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices. News of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any “illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived.” When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines. Once the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the “gangster” figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of “Murder, Inc.” are profound, including references in contemporary mass media. The Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City’s immigrant gang culture and its role as “Gangster City”; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to “real life.” Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective. |
| the moral life: Facing The Extreme Tzvetan Todorov, 1997-04-15 Studies the moral practices in concentration camps, uncovering the virtues that persevered throughout inhuman living conditions. |
| the moral life: The Second Mountain David Brooks, 2019-04-16 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world. “Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post Every so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain. And so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment. In The Second Mountain, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose. In short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it’s also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighborhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In The Second Mountain, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the center of our lives. |
| the moral life: The Moral Life W. R. Sorley, 2012-03-22 This 1920 reissue of a 1911 volume by W. R. Sorley presents an account of the nature of goodness in humanity. |
| the moral life: An Introduction to Kant's Moral Philosophy Jennifer K. Uleman, 2010-01-21 Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy is one of the most distinctive achievements of the European Enlightenment. At its heart lies what Kant called the 'strange thing': the free, rational, human will. This introduction explores the basis of Kant's anti-naturalist, secular, humanist vision of the human good. Moving from a sketch of the Kantian will, with all its component parts and attributes, to Kant's canonical arguments for his categorical imperative, this introduction shows why Kant thought his moral law the best summary expression of both his own philosophical work on morality and his readers' deepest shared convictions about the good. Kant's central tenets, key arguments, and core values are presented in an accessible and engaging way, making this book ideal for anyone eager to explore the fundamentals of Kant's moral philosophy. |
| the moral life: Enjoyment John Kekes, 2010-10-07 John Kekes examines the indispensable role enjoyment plays in a good life. The key to it is developing a style of life that combines an attitude and a manner of living and acting that jointly express one's deepest concerns. Kekes reorients moral thought toward a reasonable but pluralistic reflection on what we can do to make our lives better. |
| the moral life: Finding Our Way to God Dennis Joseph Billy, 2018-06 Finding Our Way to God offers an approach to spiritual direction using mental prayer that can be used to create healing and peace when conducting guidance sessions with seekers. Based on the teachings of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, Fr. Dennis Billy's approach examines the moral life in the context of spiritual direction. While thoroughly Catholic, St. Alphonsus was so pastoral -- focusing on the poor and marginalized -- that the approach can be easily learned and used by adherents of other religious, philosophical, and ethical traditions. In Finding Our Way to God, Fr. Dennis Billy: Teaches active listening, which is essential for spiritual directors. Emphasizes the continuity between a person's spirituality and morality through growth in the virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Provides an understanding of how the model of spiritual direction can be adapted to meet the needs of a wide variety of people. Helps the reader use Alphonsian spirituality as a backdrop for conducting spiritual direction. |
| the moral life: The Good Life Cheryl Mendelson, 2012-07-05 The Good Life is an engaging, reasoned look at American values: how the angry political right hijacks and corrupts ideas about morality, how the fringe political left abandons the moral outlook, and how antimoralism from many sources results in cruelty, harsh law, dangerous irrationality, corrupt religion, greed, and gross inequality, and undermines American democracy. Cheryl Mendelson reminds us how far these trends have taken us from our roots, and how a humane democracy, with its freedoms, depends on the moral sense of its citizens. Medelson gives clear-sighted descriptions, free of ideology, of what morality really is, tracing it to its psychological roots, and of the antimoralism behind familiar cultural tics like authoritarianism, the culture of cool, irrationalist movements in politics and religion, and the sterility of academic attempts to understand the moral life. Along the way, she gives a clear, persuasive explanation of why moral truth exists and why believing this doesn't force us to be dogmatic and judgmental. Mendelson's book is a bracing polemic, but it is also inspiring and, with its eye-opening analysis of the moral mentality, an education in what it means to be moral in an antimoral world. |
| the moral life: The Moral Life and Moral Worth (Classic Reprint) William Ritchie Sorley, 2017-11-23 Excerpt from The Moral Life and Moral Worth The purpose of the following pages is to give a popular account of the nature of goodness in human life. They are not specially addressed to the philosophical student, but to the wider public interested in the subject: for moral philosophy is the quest of a few, but moralit is every man's affair. Nor is the book an essay in casuistry. Cases Of conduct are infinite in number, and hardly two of them are the same general rules fit them awkwardly. But morality is a spirit manifested in life, not a body of rules and this point of View is marked by the title The Moral Life. W. R. S. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. |
MORAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Ethics and morals are both used in the plural and are often regarded as synonyms, but there is some distinction in how they are used. Morals often describes one's particular values …
MORAL Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Moral definition: of, relating to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical.. See examples of MORAL used in a sentence.
MORAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
MORAL definition: 1. relating to the standards of good or bad behaviour, fairness, honesty, etc. that each person…. Learn more.
Moral - definition of moral by The Free Dictionary
moral - the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the story is to love thy neighbor"
MORAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
Moral means relating to beliefs about what is right or wrong. She had to make a moral judgment about what was the right thing to do. American English : moral / ˈmɔrəl /
What does moral mean? - Definitions.net
acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to material and physical; as, …
Morality - Wikipedia
In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores that are observed to be accepted by a significant number of individuals (not necessarily …
Morale vs. Moral: What's the Difference? - Grammarly
Morale vs. Moral: What's the Difference? The words morale and moral have distinct meanings and uses. Morale refers to the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at …
Morality: Definition, Theories, and Examples - Verywell Mind
Apr 22, 2024 · Sometimes, acting in a moral manner means individuals must sacrifice their own short-term interests to benefit society. Individuals who go against these standards may be …
Moral Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
MORAL meaning: 1 : concerning or relating to what is right and wrong in human behavior; 2 : based on what you think is right and good
MORAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Ethics and morals are both used in the plural and are often regarded as synonyms, but there is some distinction in how they are used. Morals often describes one's particular values …
MORAL Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Moral definition: of, relating to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical.. See examples of MORAL used in a sentence.
MORAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
MORAL definition: 1. relating to the standards of good or bad behaviour, fairness, honesty, etc. that each person…. Learn more.
Moral - definition of moral by The Free Dictionary
moral - the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the story is to love thy neighbor"
MORAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
Moral means relating to beliefs about what is right or wrong. She had to make a moral judgment about what was the right thing to do. American English : moral / ˈmɔrəl /
What does moral mean? - Definitions.net
acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to material and physical; as, …
Morality - Wikipedia
In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores that are observed to be accepted by a significant number of individuals (not necessarily …
Morale vs. Moral: What's the Difference? - Grammarly
Morale vs. Moral: What's the Difference? The words morale and moral have distinct meanings and uses. Morale refers to the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at …
Morality: Definition, Theories, and Examples - Verywell Mind
Apr 22, 2024 · Sometimes, acting in a moral manner means individuals must sacrifice their own short-term interests to benefit society. Individuals who go against these standards may be …
Moral Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
MORAL meaning: 1 : concerning or relating to what is right and wrong in human behavior; 2 : based on what you think is right and good
