Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199248674
- eISBN:
- 9780191714696
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248674.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter addresses ideas about what God ‘sends’ to an individual in terms of fortune and livelihood. While the Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale offer competing assessments of what is ‘enough’, the ...
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This chapter addresses ideas about what God ‘sends’ to an individual in terms of fortune and livelihood. While the Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale offer competing assessments of what is ‘enough’, the Shipman’s Tale fashions a tour de force on the same topic, accommodating with wit and a touch of seriousness both the mischievous ethics of sexual trading and the ethical/moral risk of merchant preoccupations. Its somewhat insensitive merchant figure is partly to be judged against standards set out in Seneca’s On Favours, though the tale foxes the reader’s powers of judgment by making misrepresentation itself (the merchant’s ally) a thematic focus.Less
This chapter addresses ideas about what God ‘sends’ to an individual in terms of fortune and livelihood. While the Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale offer competing assessments of what is ‘enough’, the Shipman’s Tale fashions a tour de force on the same topic, accommodating with wit and a touch of seriousness both the mischievous ethics of sexual trading and the ethical/moral risk of merchant preoccupations. Its somewhat insensitive merchant figure is partly to be judged against standards set out in Seneca’s On Favours, though the tale foxes the reader’s powers of judgment by making misrepresentation itself (the merchant’s ally) a thematic focus.
Helga Varden
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198812838
- eISBN:
- 9780191850622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198812838.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter provides a Kantian account of private right in relation to marriage and trade in sexual services. I argue that in addition to various non-ideal reasons and reasons based on equality that ...
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This chapter provides a Kantian account of private right in relation to marriage and trade in sexual services. I argue that in addition to various non-ideal reasons and reasons based on equality that make same-sex couples want to have a right to marry, there are ideal reasons why they want such a right. I also extend this argument to defend the right to marry for non-binary, symmetrical polyamorous partners. Regarding trade in sexual services, I maintain that Kant’s account of bodily rights can explain why one never gets an enforceable right to have sex with another person even if one has a right to get some of the money back if a contract is broken. Importantly, these arguments hold regardless of what someone may think from the point of view of virtue or religion.Less
This chapter provides a Kantian account of private right in relation to marriage and trade in sexual services. I argue that in addition to various non-ideal reasons and reasons based on equality that make same-sex couples want to have a right to marry, there are ideal reasons why they want such a right. I also extend this argument to defend the right to marry for non-binary, symmetrical polyamorous partners. Regarding trade in sexual services, I maintain that Kant’s account of bodily rights can explain why one never gets an enforceable right to have sex with another person even if one has a right to get some of the money back if a contract is broken. Importantly, these arguments hold regardless of what someone may think from the point of view of virtue or religion.
