Ecological ethics and the human soul : Aquinas, Whitehead, and the metaphysics of value / Francisco J. Benzoni.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benzoni, Francisco J.

Contributor:

Elizabeth Bowers Peck, 1929 Endowment Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmental ethics.

Metaphysics.

Theism--History.

Theism.

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 261 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, [2007]

Summary:

Caroline Beer's new book explores the consequences of democratic politics in Mexico. Focusing on struggles at the subnational level, she assesses how increased electoral competition alters the long-term distribution of power across political institutions in ways that shift power away from established elites and into the hands of ordinary citizens. Electoral Competition and Institutional Change in Mexico includes compelling case study comparisons of three states with very different experiences with electoral democracy: Guanajuato, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosí. These cases are then situated within a broader quantitative analysis of all thirty-one Mexican states. Beer's research reverses the causal arrow of many standard studies by focusing on the causes of institutional change rather than the consequences of institutional design. Her analysis reveals that the process of increasing electoral competition has unleashed new forces that have slowly eroded the power of centralized, authoritarian elites in Mexico. Utilizing a theoretical framework that draws on insights from classic democratic theory, new institutionalist literature, and current critiques of contemporary Latin American democracy, Beer's important work represents the first comparative study of state legislatures and governors in Mexico and offers compelling insight into the bottom-up dynamics of Mexico's transition to democracy.

Contents:

Created goodness and moral worth : Thomas' bifurcation

The metaphysical grounding of goodness

The moral bifurcation of creation

The human soul : analysis and critique

Thomas' conception of the human soul

The soul as an entity : a critical assessment

The unity and moral worth of all creation

An alternative metaphysics

Intrinsic value and moral worth.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-245) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Elizabeth Bowers Peck, 1929 Endowment Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780268022051

0268022054

OCLC:

163603481