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  1. Christian Academic Books/
  2. Philosophy

The Roots of Morality

by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone

  • Paperback
  • 466 pages
  • Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
  • 15.2 x 23 x 2.7 cm

£39.73

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This book argues the case for a foundationalist ethics centrally based on an empirical understanding of human nature. For Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, "an ethics formulated on the foundations of anything other than human nature, hence on anything other than an identification of pan-cultural human realities, lacks solid empirical moorings. It easily loses itself in isolated hypotheticals, reductionist scenarios, or theoretical abstractions-in the prisoner's dilemma, selfish genes, dedicated brain modules, evolutionary altruism, or psychological egoism, for example-or it easily becomes itself an ethical system over and above the ethics it formulates," such as the deontological ethics of Kantian categorical imperatives, the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, or the ethics of care. Taking her cue from Hume, especially his Treatise on Human Nature, where he grounds "the moral sense" in human nature seen as always in tension between the natural tendencies of selfish acquisitiveness and sympathy for others, Sheets-Johnstone pursues her phenomenological investigation of the natural basis of human morality by directing her attention, first in Part I, to what is traditionally considered the dark side of human nature, and then, in Part II, to the positive side. The tension between the two calls for an interdisciplinary therapeutic resolution, which she offers in the Epilogue by arguing for the value of a moral education that enlightens humans about their own human nature, highlighting both the socialization of fear and the importance of play and creativity.

  • Author

    Maxine Sheets-Johnstone

  • Book Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    Pennsylvania State University Press

  • Published

    September 2012

  • Weight

    677g

  • Page Count

    466

  • Dimensions

    15.2 x 23 x 2.7 cm

  • ISBN

    9780271033938

  • ISBN-10

    0271033932

  • Eden Code

    4570114

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