Self-Fulfillment / Alan Gewirth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gewirth, Alan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self-realization.

Local Subjects:

Self-realization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2009]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Cultures around the world have regarded self-fulfillment as the ultimate goal of human striving and as the fundamental test of the goodness of a human life. The ideal has also been criticized, however, as egotistical or as so value-neutral that it fails to distinguish between, for example, self-fulfilled sinners and self-fulfilled saints. Alan Gewirth presents here a systematic and highly original study of self-fulfillment that seeks to overcome these and other arguments and to justify the high place that the ideal has been accorded. He does so by developing an ethical theory that ultimately grounds the value of self-fulfillment in the idea of the dignity of human beings. Gewirth begins by distinguishing two models of self- fulfillment--aspiration-fulfillment and capacity-fulfillment--and shows how each of these contributes to the intrinsic value of human life. He then distinguishes between three types of morality--universalist, particularist, and personalist--and shows how each contributes to the values embodied in self-fulfillment. Building on these ideas, he develops a Odialectical' conception of reason that shows how human rights are central to self-fulfillment. Gewirth also argues that self-fulfillment has a social as well as an individual dimension: that the nature of society and the obstacles that disadvantaged groups face affect strongly the character of the self-fulfillment that persons can achieve. Bold in scope and rigorous in execution, Self-Fulfillment is a powerful new contribution to moral, social, and political philosophy.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. The Ideal of Self-Fulfillment

Chapter 2. Self-Fulfillment as Aspiration-Fulfillment

Chapter 3. Capacity-Fulfillment and Universalist Morality

Chapter 4. Capacity-Fulfillment and the Good Life

Chapter 5. Ultimate Values, Rights, and Reason

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9786612753565

9781282753563

1282753568

9781400822744

1400822742

OCLC:

705527049