Virtues of Independence and Dependence of Virtues
Ludvig Beckman and Emil Uddhammar, editors
Debate about the concept of virtue is a persistent
theme in academic discourse. One strand of thinking attempts to
examine and reconstruct ethical theories with the aim of formulating
a new morality or ethics. A second strand of thought, more strongly
represented in this work, attempts to explore the social and political
world deploying the concept of virtue. Thus, this volume crosses
the established borders of academic disciplines in order to provide
a richer and more comprehensive under-standing of the place of virtues
in contemporary Western societies.
The editors hold that the dominating virtue of our culture and society
is the virtue of independence. Yet independence, or individual autonomy,
is contingent upon a diverse, and so far ill-understood, set of
cultural, biological, economic, ethical, and political practices.
The idea of individuality is in other words supervening on a web
of formal and informal relations. This volume therefore attempts
to improve our understanding of the prevailing ethos of independence
as well as of the mechanisms and practices sustaining it.
Virtues are examined in specific contexts. Authors explore what
we can learn about our dependence on virtues from the archaic Greek
culture. They examine the relevance of virtue-ethics to the understanding
of day-to-day practices. And they look at the place of virtues in
understanding the norms of independence and liberty. Other contributions
attend to the virtues of independence and its challenges, examining
possible philosophical challenges, questioning whether independence
is always a virtue, and how the virtues of justice fare given a
commitment to the virtues of independence.
The final portion of the book explores the empirical consequences
of the virtues of independence. Among the questions addressed are
how personal independence affects political and economic institutions,
and the connections between norms of independence and the growth
of modernity. This volume is an important contribution to the contemporary
understanding of what constitutes virtuous and ethical behavior.
Contents
Preface
Ludvig Beckman and Emil Uddhammar
1.Roots
Göran Lantz
2.Reverence, Respect,
and Dependence
Paul Woodruff
3.Aesthetic Experience
and Virtue: Narrative, Emotions, and the Understanding of Others
Katarina Elam
4.Autonomy's Sources and
the Impact of Globalization
John Dunn
5.Personal Independence and Social Justice:
Contradictions of Liberal Virtues?
Ludvig Beckman
6.Autonomy and Moral Responsibility:
On Virtues and the Common Good
Göran Möller
7.The Politics of Virtue
in the French Revolution
Ruth Scurr
8.Volunteering as Virtue
Bryan S. Turner
9.The Relation between
Independence and Trust
Emil Uddhammar
References
About the Contributors
Index
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