Pagan Virtue: An Essay in EthicsClarendon Press, 1990 - 242 pages The study of the virtues has largely dropped out of modern philosophy, yet it was the predominant tradition in ethics fom the ancient Greeks until Kant. Traditionally the study of the virtues was also the study of what constituted a successful and happy life. Drawing on such diverse sources as Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Shakespeare, Hume, Jane Austen, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Sartre, Casey here argues that the classical virtues of courage, temperance, practical wisdom, and justice centrally define the good for humans, and that they are insufficiently acknowledged in modern moral philosophy. He suggests that values of success, worldliness, and pride are active parts of our moral thinking, and that the conflict between these and our equally important Christian inheritance leads to tensions and contradictions in our understanding of the moral life. |
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Page 98
... loyalty to the city that makes them virtues . And the emblematizing of the body in the play is frequently hyperbolic ... loyalties . Although the play achieves its political vision through poetry and rhetoric , and qualifies it with ...
... loyalty to the city that makes them virtues . And the emblematizing of the body in the play is frequently hyperbolic ... loyalties . Although the play achieves its political vision through poetry and rhetoric , and qualifies it with ...
Page 102
... loyalties . The idea of virtù , especially in Machiavelli , brings out tensions , and perhaps contradictions , in my account of courage . For on the one hand the assumption will be that the loyalty that goes with courage will be to an ...
... loyalties . The idea of virtù , especially in Machiavelli , brings out tensions , and perhaps contradictions , in my account of courage . For on the one hand the assumption will be that the loyalty that goes with courage will be to an ...
Page 103
... loyalty to the state , and the emphasis on ' noble egoism ' of Nietzsche , and , we can even say , of Coriolanus . Indeed , Coriolanus throws the problem into relief . In that play we feel conflicting loyalties , and conflicting ...
... loyalty to the state , and the emphasis on ' noble egoism ' of Nietzsche , and , we can even say , of Coriolanus . Indeed , Coriolanus throws the problem into relief . In that play we feel conflicting loyalties , and conflicting ...
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Common terms and phrases
action active admire amour propre anger angry Aquinas Aristotle Aristotle says Aristotle's attitudes behaviour believe body brave character child Christian claim consciousness Cordelia Coriolanus courage describe desire disposition egoism emotion envy essentially Ethics evil expression F. R. Leavis fear feel friendship grace gratitude hate hatred Hegel hence honour human Hume Ibid idea imagine includes instance intentions Jane Austen justice Kant King Lear lack Lear Lear's look loyalty magnanimous man's Mansfield Park Martha Nussbaum means Michael Oakeshott mind moral Moral Luck nature Nietzsche noble object one's oneself ourselves pain particular passion perhaps person Phenomenology philosopher phronesis physical picture pietas play pleasure Plutarch political possible practical wisdom Priam pride qualities rational relation respect role Sartre sect seems self-conscious sense sexual shame simply skills sloth someone sort spirit suffering suggest Summa T. S. Eliot temperance things thought tradition trans understand values vanity virtue wish