Freedom and limits / John Lachs ; edited by Patrick Shade.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lachs, John, author.

Contributor:

Shade, Patrick, 1965- editor of compilation.

Series:

American philosophy.

American Philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (520 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Freedom and Limits is a defense of the value of freedom in the context of human finitude. A contribution to the American tradition of philosophy, it focuses attention on moral problems as we encounter them in daily life, where the search for perfection and the incessant drive to meet obligations make it difficult to attain satisfaction. The book argues that uniformity is unproductive: Human natures are varied and changeable, making the effort to impose a unitary good on everyone futile. Moreover, we don’t need to strive for more than what is good enough: Finite achievements should be adequate to satisfy finite people. The ultimate aim of the book is to reclaim the role of philosophy as a guide to life. In doing so, it presents discussions of such important philosophers as Fichte, Hegel, Peirce, Dewey, James, and, above all, Santayana.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue

1 The Impotent Mind

2 Santayana’s Philosophy of Mind

3 Fichte’s Idealism

4 Peirce, Santayana, and the Large Facts

5 The Transcendence of Materialism and Idealism in American Thought

6 Primitive Naturalism

7 Two Views of Happiness in Mill

8 Questions of Life and Death

9 On Selling Organs

10 A Community of Psyches

11 The Cost of Community

12 Public Benefit, Private Cost

13 Leaving Others Alone

14 Relativism and Its Benefits

15 The Element of Choice in Criteria of Death

16 Human Natures

17 Persons and Different Kinds of Persons

18 Grand Dreams of Perfect People

19 Philosophical Pluralism

20 To Have and to Be

21 Drugs: The Fallacy of Avoidable Consequences

22 Loving Life

23 Aristotle and Dewey on the Rat Race

24 Improving Life

25 Stoic Pragmatism

26 Pragmatism and Death

27 The Relevance of Philosophy to Life

28 Both Better Off and Better

29 Education in the Twenty- First Century (with Shirley M. Lachs)

30 Learning About Possibility

31 Moral Holidays

32 Good Enough

Epilogue

Notes

Further Reading

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 485-494) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8232-5675-8

0-8232-5793-2

0-8232-6096-8

0-8232-5676-6

OCLC:

878144574