具体描述
Perfectionism is one of the great moralities of the Western tradition. It holds that certain states of humans, such as knowledge, achievement, and friendship, are good apart from any pleasure they may bring, and that the morally right act is always the one that most promotes these states. Defined more narrowly, perfectionism identifies the human good by reference to human nature: if knowledge and achievement are good, it is because they realize aspects of human nature. This book gives an account of perfectionism, first in the narrower sense, analysing its central concepts and defending a theory of human nature in which rationality plays a central role. It then uses this theory to construct an elaborate account of the intrinsic value of beliefs and actions that embody rationality, and applies this account to political questions about liberty and equality. The book attempts to formulate the most defensible version of perfectionism, using contemporary analytic techniques. It aims both to regain for perfectionism a central place in contemporary moral debate and to shed light on the writings of classical perfectionists such as Aristotle, Aquinas, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and T.H. Green.
作者简介
目录信息
I. The Perfectionist Idea
2. The Concept of Human Nature, 9
2.1 Distinctiveness and Essence, 10
2.2 Essence and Life, 14
2.3 Nature: Objections, 18
3. Accretions and Methods, 23
3.1 Accretions, 23
3.2 Perfectionist Naturalism, 28
3.3 Defending Perfectionism, 31
3.4 How Are Essences Known?, 33
4. The Human Essence, 37
4.1 The Aristotelian Theory: Physical Essence, 37
4.2 The Aristotelian Theory: Rationality, 39
4.3 The Aristotelian Theory: Objections, 44
4.4 The Wrong Explanations?, 48
II. Aristotelian Perfectionism
5. The Basic Structure, 55
5.1 Maximizing Consequentialism, 55
5.2 Time- and Agent-Neutrality, 60
5.3 The Asymmetry, 64
5.4 Competition and Co-operation, 66
6. Aggregation, 69
6.1 Summing and Averaging, 70
6.2 Maximax, 75
6.3 Single-Peak Perfection, 79
6.4 Conclusion, 82
7. The Well-Rounded Life, 84
7.1 Lexical and Constant Comparisons, 85
7.2 Balancing, 88
7.3 Dilettantism and Concentration, 91
7.4 Many-Person Balancing?, 97
8. Trying, Deserving, Succeeding, 99
8.1 Number and Quality, 99
8.2 Attempt, 103
8.3 Deserving Attempt, 105
8.4 Success and Deserved Success, 108
8.5 The Best Units?, 112
9. Unity and Complexity, 114
9.1 Generality: Extent and Dominance, 114
9.2 Generality: Elaborations, 116
9.3 Top-to-Bottom Knowledge, 119
9.4 The Unified Life, 121
9.5 Complex, Difficult Activities, 123
10. Politics, Co-operation, and Love, 129
10.1 Political Action, 129
10.2 Co-operation, 132
10.3 Love and Friendship, 134
10.4 Generality: Objections, 137
10.5 Generality: The Tradition, 141
III. Perfectionism and Politics
11. Liberty, 147
11.1 Autonomy as a Perfection, 148
11.2 The Asymmetry Argument, 152
11.3 Sexual Enforcement and Paternalism, 156
11.4 Liberty versus Neutrality, 158
12. Equality: Abilities and Marginal Utility, 161
12.1 Deep Equality, 161
12.2 Desert and Aggregation, 163
12.3 Natural Abilities, 165
12.4 Diminishing Marginal Utility, 169
13. Equality: Co-operation and the Market, 176
13.1 Arguments from Co-operation, 176
13.2 Illustrations and Limitations, 180
13.3 Property and Property-Freedom, 183
13.4 Self-Reliance versus Dependence, 185
14. Conclusion, 190
Notes, 193
Bibliography, 209
Index, 215
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