Cities of words : pedagogical letters on a register of the moral life / Stanley Cavell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cavell, Stanley, 1926- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Perfection--Moral and ethical aspects.

Perfection.

Conduct of life.

Ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (475 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004.

Summary:

"Since Socrates and his circle first tried to frame the Just City in words, discussion of a perfect communal life - a life of justice, reflection, and mutual respect - has had to come to terms with the distance between that idea and reality. Measuring this distance step by practical step is the philosophical project that Stanley Cavell has pursued on his exploratory path. Situated at the intersection of two of his longstanding interests - Emersonian philosophy and the Hollywood comedy of remarriage - Cavell's new work marks a significant advance in this project. The book - which presents a course of lectures Cavell presented several times toward the end of his teaching career at Harvard - links masterpieces of moral philosophy and classic Hollywood comedies to fashion a new way of looking at our lives and learning to live with ourselves."--Jacket.

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1. Emerson; The Question of Philosophy; Moral Paradoxes; Two Figures of the Friend; The Nature of Reading; Chapter 2. The Philadelphia Story; Chapter 3. Locke; Chapter 4. Adam's Rib; Chapter 5. John Stuart Mill; Chapter 6. Gaslight; Chapter 7. Kant; Chapter 8. It Happened One Night; Chapter 9. Rawls; Chapter 10. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; Chapter 11. Nietzsche; Chapter 12. Now, Voyager; Chapter 13. Ibsen; Chapter 14. Stella Dallas; Chapter 15. Freud; Chapter 16. The Lady Eve; Chapter 17. Plato

Chapter 18. His Girl FridayChapter 19. Aristotle; Chapter 20. The Awful Truth; Chapter 21. Henry James and Max Ophuls; Chapter 22. G. B. Shaw: Pygmalion and Pygmalion; Chapter 23. Shakespeare and Rohmer: Two Tales of Winter; Themes of Moral Perfectionism in Plato's Republic; Acknowledgments; Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674971264

0674971264

OCLC:

607204056