Living without philosophy : on narrative, rhetoric, and morality / Peter Levine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levine, Peter, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics.

Description (Rhetoric).

Physical Description:

xi, 292 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany, N.Y. : State University of New York Press, [1998]

Summary:

Living Without Philosophy argues that we do not need ethical theories, rules, and principles to decide what is right. Instead, particular cases can be judged by a detailed description of the relevant circumstances. When our judgments differ, we can decide how to act by deliberating under fair conditions. The author provides both a philosophical argument for this position and readings of literary texts in which moral theorists are portrayed as concrete characters. These works include Plato's Protagoras, selections from the Gospels and Dante, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, the debate between Erasmus and Luther, Erasmus's Praise of Folly, Shakespeare's King Lear, Nabokov's Lolita, and Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Thus, Levine offers essentially a moral argument for the humanities, discussing the implications not only for ethics, but also for theology, law, politics, and education.

Contents:

Part I. The Abstract Argument

1. Moral Judgment 13

An Ethical Problem

The Meaning of Moral Words

"Thick Description" and Aspect-Seeing

A Legal Illustration

Aristotle's View

Objections to Rhetoric

The Sufficiency of Judgment

2. Agreement 59

The Ideal of Consensus

Consensus and Moral Theory

Moral Relativism

Philosophy and Liberation

Democracy or the Market?

Part II. Concrete Illustrations

3. A Philosopher Encounters a Humanist 83

Socrates and Protagoras

The Dialogue: Opening

The "Great Speech"

Socrates' Dialectical Response

A Debate about Method

Simonides and the Problem of Contingency

Dialectical Conclusion

Who Wins the Debate?

4. Instructive Tragedy, Ancient and Modern 123

Aristotle on Tragedy

Objections to Aristotle

Nabokov's Modern Tragedy

Nabokov's Intentions

5. Religion versus Theology 145

Metaphysics in Religion

The Non-Metaphysical Roots of Judeo-Christian Religion

Christianity Encounters Greek Philosophy

Asceticism and Iconoclasm

The Consolation of Philosophy

From Boethius to Dante

Theology and Spiritual Experience

6. Humanists and Scholastics in the Renaissance 179

Humanism versus Scholasticism

Humanist Methods of Interpretation

The Educational and Political Ideals of the Humanists

Erasmus and Christian Humanism

Luther as Humanist

Erasmus versus Luther

7. The Wise Fool 205

The Praise of Folly

Shakespeare as Humanist

King Lear

A Market Metaphor

Natural Law

A Man Pregnant to Good Pity

Seeing and Blindness

Shame and the Consolations of Philosophy

This Great Stage of Fools

That Glib and Oily Art

Conclusion: The Beloved Community 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

079143897X

0791438988

OCLC:

39045028