Andrew M. Yuengert
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199739813
- eISBN:
- 9780199866120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739813.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter discusses the character of “sustainable prosperity for all”. Although the Catholic social tradition is reluctant to give unqualified practical advice about how to achieve prosperity, it ...
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This chapter discusses the character of “sustainable prosperity for all”. Although the Catholic social tradition is reluctant to give unqualified practical advice about how to achieve prosperity, it is more confident in its discussion of human fulfillment, in its expertise about what is good for human beings living in community. The chapter proceeds as follows. Section 2 reflects on the nature of the human person. Section 3 outlines the place of income and material wealth in the Catholic vision of true prosperity. Section 4 presents a description of true prosperity in four parts: the personal and social virtues, the quality of social relations, personal initiative, and material wealth. Section 5 compares the Catholic vision of prosperity to alternative theories. Section 6 offers some concluding thoughts on the value of this approach and its empirical implementation.Less
This chapter discusses the character of “sustainable prosperity for all”. Although the Catholic social tradition is reluctant to give unqualified practical advice about how to achieve prosperity, it is more confident in its discussion of human fulfillment, in its expertise about what is good for human beings living in community. The chapter proceeds as follows. Section 2 reflects on the nature of the human person. Section 3 outlines the place of income and material wealth in the Catholic vision of true prosperity. Section 4 presents a description of true prosperity in four parts: the personal and social virtues, the quality of social relations, personal initiative, and material wealth. Section 5 compares the Catholic vision of prosperity to alternative theories. Section 6 offers some concluding thoughts on the value of this approach and its empirical implementation.
David Gauthier
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198249924
- eISBN:
- 9780191597497
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198249926.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
We appeal to Bernard Suits's Grasshopper to support the thesis that what has intrinsic value in human life is engagement in activities that have instrumental value. The implication of this view is ...
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We appeal to Bernard Suits's Grasshopper to support the thesis that what has intrinsic value in human life is engagement in activities that have instrumental value. The implication of this view is that scarcity in the form of human fulfilment is necessary for human life to have point, and so is the humanly necessary evil. Participation with others to diminish scarcity has necessary instrumental value, and, we argue, for that reason has intrinsic value. A morality of agreement is the foundation of welcome participation, and so, despite its imposition of constraints, necessary to valuing participation and extending that value to one's fellow participants. We then turn to the character of an essentially just society, and show that it is a society not of ‘economic men’ but of liberal individuals, autonomous beings free to choose their own goals and their affective ties with others, and willingly maintaining the moral and social conditions that make this autonomy possible. We note certain doubts about the possibility of creating an essentially just society, but conclude with Nietzsche's account of human beings as having ‘the right to make promises’ to ‘stand as their own guarantors’, and identify this with the ability to interact with one's fellows and the world in a new and distinctive way, which we have called ‘constrained maximization’.Less
We appeal to Bernard Suits's Grasshopper to support the thesis that what has intrinsic value in human life is engagement in activities that have instrumental value. The implication of this view is that scarcity in the form of human fulfilment is necessary for human life to have point, and so is the humanly necessary evil. Participation with others to diminish scarcity has necessary instrumental value, and, we argue, for that reason has intrinsic value. A morality of agreement is the foundation of welcome participation, and so, despite its imposition of constraints, necessary to valuing participation and extending that value to one's fellow participants. We then turn to the character of an essentially just society, and show that it is a society not of ‘economic men’ but of liberal individuals, autonomous beings free to choose their own goals and their affective ties with others, and willingly maintaining the moral and social conditions that make this autonomy possible. We note certain doubts about the possibility of creating an essentially just society, but conclude with Nietzsche's account of human beings as having ‘the right to make promises’ to ‘stand as their own guarantors’, and identify this with the ability to interact with one's fellows and the world in a new and distinctive way, which we have called ‘constrained maximization’.
Joseph Boyle
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199675500
- eISBN:
- 9780191757228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199675500.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter explores John Finnis' several formulations of the most fundamental principle of morality. The best known is that one should always choose and otherwise will consistently choose morality ...
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This chapter explores John Finnis' several formulations of the most fundamental principle of morality. The best known is that one should always choose and otherwise will consistently choose morality with integral human (revised to ‘communal’) fulfillment. Another formulation requires choice responsive to unfettered practical reason. Underlying the latter is responsiveness to the integral directiveness of practical reason. This last one locates the most basic connection between free choice and practical reason.Less
This chapter explores John Finnis' several formulations of the most fundamental principle of morality. The best known is that one should always choose and otherwise will consistently choose morality with integral human (revised to ‘communal’) fulfillment. Another formulation requires choice responsive to unfettered practical reason. Underlying the latter is responsiveness to the integral directiveness of practical reason. This last one locates the most basic connection between free choice and practical reason.
John J. Piderit
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199793273
- eISBN:
- 9780190258313
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199793273.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter starts with a discussion of how moral action begins at a young age. It then explains young people's realization that there is more than one moral world and the definition of moral ...
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This chapter starts with a discussion of how moral action begins at a young age. It then explains young people's realization that there is more than one moral world and the definition of moral systems by identifying what constitutes authentic human flourishing and values. It also outlines a secular ideal of human fulfillment based on achievement, knowledge, recognition, and expenditure of resources on family and those who are less fortunate in society.Less
This chapter starts with a discussion of how moral action begins at a young age. It then explains young people's realization that there is more than one moral world and the definition of moral systems by identifying what constitutes authentic human flourishing and values. It also outlines a secular ideal of human fulfillment based on achievement, knowledge, recognition, and expenditure of resources on family and those who are less fortunate in society.
Michael Maniates and John M. Meyer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014366
- eISBN:
- 9780262289603
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014366.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
The idea of sacrifice is the unspoken issue of environmental politics. Politicians, the media, and many environmentalists assume that well-off populations won’t make sacrifices now for future ...
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The idea of sacrifice is the unspoken issue of environmental politics. Politicians, the media, and many environmentalists assume that well-off populations won’t make sacrifices now for future environmental benefits and won’t change their patterns and perceptions of consumption to make ecological room for the world’s three billion or so poor who are eager to improve their standard of living. This book challenges these assumptions, arguing that they limit our policy options, weaken our ability to imagine bold action for change, and blind us to the ways sacrifice already figures in everyday life. The concept of sacrifice has been unexamined in both activist and academic conversations about environmental politics, but this book confronts it directly. The chapters bring a variety of disciplinary perspectives to the topic. Contributors offer alternatives to the conventional wisdom on sacrifice, identifying connections between sacrifice and human fulfilment in everyday life, and finding such concrete examples as parents’ sacrifices in raising children, religious practice, artists’ pursuit of their art, and soldiers and policemen who risk their lives to do their jobs. They examine particular policies and practices that shape our understanding of environmental problems, including the carbon tax, cycling incentives, and the perils of green consumption. This book puts “sacrifice” into the conversation about effective environmental politics and policies, insisting that activists and scholars do more than change the subject when the idea is introduced.Less
The idea of sacrifice is the unspoken issue of environmental politics. Politicians, the media, and many environmentalists assume that well-off populations won’t make sacrifices now for future environmental benefits and won’t change their patterns and perceptions of consumption to make ecological room for the world’s three billion or so poor who are eager to improve their standard of living. This book challenges these assumptions, arguing that they limit our policy options, weaken our ability to imagine bold action for change, and blind us to the ways sacrifice already figures in everyday life. The concept of sacrifice has been unexamined in both activist and academic conversations about environmental politics, but this book confronts it directly. The chapters bring a variety of disciplinary perspectives to the topic. Contributors offer alternatives to the conventional wisdom on sacrifice, identifying connections between sacrifice and human fulfilment in everyday life, and finding such concrete examples as parents’ sacrifices in raising children, religious practice, artists’ pursuit of their art, and soldiers and policemen who risk their lives to do their jobs. They examine particular policies and practices that shape our understanding of environmental problems, including the carbon tax, cycling incentives, and the perils of green consumption. This book puts “sacrifice” into the conversation about effective environmental politics and policies, insisting that activists and scholars do more than change the subject when the idea is introduced.
John Bishop
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- July 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198821625
- eISBN:
- 9780191860904
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198821625.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The argument of this chapter is that the foundational problem of evil is the existential problem of maintaining hopeful commitment to virtuous living in the face of all that may undermine human ...
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The argument of this chapter is that the foundational problem of evil is the existential problem of maintaining hopeful commitment to virtuous living in the face of all that may undermine human fulfilment. Dealing with this problem at the cognitive level involves commitment to a view of reality as favourable to practical commitment to ethical ideals. An intellectual problem of evil then arises to the extent that it seems that the fact of evil is evidence against the truth of the salvific worldview we are inclined to adopt for dealing with it. In relation to theism’s ‘revelatory’ worldview, this intellectual problem is expressible as an Argument from Evil. A ‘normatively relativized’ version of the Argument from Evil is proposed that seeks to exclude rational belief in the ‘personal omniGod’. As a viable alternative conception of God is possible, however, the Argument fails to justify outright atheism.Less
The argument of this chapter is that the foundational problem of evil is the existential problem of maintaining hopeful commitment to virtuous living in the face of all that may undermine human fulfilment. Dealing with this problem at the cognitive level involves commitment to a view of reality as favourable to practical commitment to ethical ideals. An intellectual problem of evil then arises to the extent that it seems that the fact of evil is evidence against the truth of the salvific worldview we are inclined to adopt for dealing with it. In relation to theism’s ‘revelatory’ worldview, this intellectual problem is expressible as an Argument from Evil. A ‘normatively relativized’ version of the Argument from Evil is proposed that seeks to exclude rational belief in the ‘personal omniGod’. As a viable alternative conception of God is possible, however, the Argument fails to justify outright atheism.
