Ethical Formation

Lovibond suggests how the “practical reason view of ethics” can survive challenges from within philosophy and from the antirationalist postmodern critique of reason. At the heart of her argument is the Aristotelian idea of the formation of character through upbringing; this idea can be made contemporary if one understands it in a naturalized way. Sabina Lovibond invites her readers to see how the "practical reason view of ethics" can survive challenges from within philosophy and from the antirationalist postmodern critique of reason. She elaborates and defends a modern practical-reason view of ethics by focusing on virtue or ideal states of character that involve sensitivity to the objective reasons circumstances bring into play. At the heart of her argument is the Aristotelian idea of the formation of character through upbringing; these ancient ideas can be made contemporary if one understands them in a naturalized way. She then explores the implications that arise from the naturalization of the classical view, weaving into her theory ideas of Jacques Derrida and J. L. Austin. The book also discusses two modes of resistance to an existing ethical culture--one committed to the critical employment of shared norms of rationality, the other aspiring to a more radical attitude, grounded in hostility to the "universal." Lovibond tries to determine what may be correct in this second, admittedly paradoxical, tendency. This is a timely and valuable effort to connect the most advanced forms of thinking in the analytic tradition and in the Continental tradition, and to extend our understanding of the intimacies and resistances between these two prominent strands of contemporary philosophy.

from The Book

to My Mind The Most Striking Development In Ethical Theory Since The 1970s Has Been An Attempt To Reactivate The Platonic-aristotelian Ethical Tradition And To Provide An Updated Account Of Its Leading Idea—namely, That Moral Virtue Is The Outcome Of A Successful Process Of Formation...the Notion Of Form Can Be Replaced By That Of Order, The Kind Of Order That We Try To Impose On Our Own Behavior Insofar As We Take Ourselves To Be Answerable To Norms Of Correctness; And This Change Of Perspective Can Open Up Our Conception Of The Virtuous Person To The Influence Of Modern Discussions About Norm-governed Practices, Thus Helping Us To A More Complete Acceptance Of The Phenomenon Of Morality As Part Of Our Natural History.

john Cottingham - Times Literary Supplement

this Is An Intricate And Stimulating Book...an Argument That Is Impressive In Its Coherence And Subtlety, And In The Insightful Way It Engages With Issues That Are Right At The Centre Of Contemporary Philosophical Debate.

Contents ......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 16 Part I: Form ......Page 20 1. The Practical Reason View of Ethics......Page 22 2. Practical Wisdom Scrutinized......Page 43 3. Form, Formlessness, and Rule-Following......Page 64 Part II: Teleology ......Page 84 4. Why Be “Serious”? The Natural Basis of Our Interest in a “Rational Self"......Page 86 5. On Being the Author of a Moral Judgement......Page 105 6. The “Intelligible Ground of the Heart”......Page 130 Part III: Counter-Teleology ......Page 148 7. The Determinate Critique of Ethical Formation......Page 150 8. The Violence of Reason?......Page 170 9. Reason and Unreason: A Problematic Distinction......Page 193 Index......Page 218 Sabina Lovibond invites readers to look at how the 'practical reason view of ethics' can survive challenges from within philosophy and from the antirationalist postmodern critique of reason