
The Impossibility of Perfection
Aristotle, Feminism, and the Complexities of Ethics
Michael Slote(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 9. January 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
180 pages
978-0-19-934949-4 (ISBN)
Description
Most people think that the difficulty of balancing career and personal/family relationships is the fault of present-day society or is due to their own inadequacies. But in this major new book, eminent moral philosopher Michael Slote argues that the difficulty runs much deeper, that it is due to the essential nature of the divergent goods involved in this kind of choice. He shows more generally that perfect human happiness and perfect virtue are impossible in principle, a view originally enunciated by Isaiah Berlin, but much more thoroughly and synoptically defended here than ever before.
Ancient Greek and modern-day Enlightenment thought typically assumed that perfection was possible, and this is also true of Romanticism and of most recent ethical theory. But if, as Slote maintains, imperfection is inevitable, then our inherited categories of virtue and personal good are far too limited and unqualified to allow us to understand and cope with the richer and more complex life that characterizes today's world. And The Impossibility of Perfection argues in particular that we need some new notions, new distinctions, and even new philosophical methods in order to distill some of the ethical insights of recent feminist thought and arrive at a fuller and more realistic picture of ethical phenomena.
Ancient Greek and modern-day Enlightenment thought typically assumed that perfection was possible, and this is also true of Romanticism and of most recent ethical theory. But if, as Slote maintains, imperfection is inevitable, then our inherited categories of virtue and personal good are far too limited and unqualified to allow us to understand and cope with the richer and more complex life that characterizes today's world. And The Impossibility of Perfection argues in particular that we need some new notions, new distinctions, and even new philosophical methods in order to distill some of the ethical insights of recent feminist thought and arrive at a fuller and more realistic picture of ethical phenomena.
Reviews / Votes
The author has some useful things to say about virtue ethics. * Stephen L. Anderson, Philosophy Now *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
235 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-934949-4 (9780199349494)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
10/2011
1st Edition
Oxford University Press Inc
€101.70
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
05/2011
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€11.99
Available for download
Person
Michael Slote is Professor of Philosophy, University of Miami. He is the author of From Enlightenment to Receptivity, Morals From Motives, Moral Sentimentalism, Selected Essays, Essays in the History of Ethics, and From Morality to Virtue among other books.
Content
Introduction ; PART I -- BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT ; Foreword to Part I ; Chapter 1 -- Empathy and Objectivity ; Chapter 2 -- Epistemology and Emotion ; Chapter 3 -- Caring and Enlightenment ; Chapter 4 -- How Important Is Morality? ; Chapter 5 -- The Impossibility of Perfection ; Chapter 6 -- A New Picture ; PART II -- RECEPTIVITY ; Foreword to Part II ; Chapter 7 -- Receptivity to Life ; Chapter 8 -- Green Thinking ; Chapter 9 -- From Enlightenment to Receptivity ; Chapter 10 -- The Virtue of Receptivity ; Conclusion