Friendship, Altruism and Morality

ISBN-13: 9780415570909 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 248 str.

Laurence A. Blum

Opis

Originally published in 1980, this book gives an account of 'altruistic emotions' (compassion, sympathy, concern) and friendship that brings out their moral value. Blum argues that moral theories centered on rationality, universal principle, obligation, and impersonality cannot capture this moral importance.

Simone Weil — philosopher, trade union militant, factory worker — developed a penetrating critique of Marxism and a powerful political philosophy which serves an alternative both to liberalism and to Marxism. In A Truer Liberty, originally published in 1989, Blum and Seidler show how Simone Weil’s philosophy sought to place political action on a firmly moral basis. The dignity of the manual worker became the standard for political institutions and movements. Weil criticized Marxism for its confidence in progress and revolution and its attendant illusory belief that history is on the side of the proletariat.

Blum and Seidler relate Weil’s work to influential trends in political philosophy today, from analytic Marxism to central traditions within liberal thought. The authors stress the importance of Weil’s work for understanding liberation theology, Catholic radicalism, and, more generally, social movements against oppression which are closely tied to religion and spirituality.

Spis treści

1. Altruistic Emotions and the Kantian View 2. Altruistic Emotions as Moral Motivation 3. Friendship, Beneficience, and Impartiality 4. Friendship as a Moral Phenomenon 5. Direct Altruism, Universalizability, and Consistency 6. Altruistic Emotion, Reason, and Perception 7. The Intrinsic Valueof Altruistic Emotions 8. Will, Emotion, and the self.

O autorze

Laurence A. Blum