Freedom and Limits

by Lachs, John; Shade, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780823261390
• ISBN10: 0823261395
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2014-09-18
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

Freedom and Limits is a defense of the value of freedom in the context of human finitude. A contribution to the American tradition of philosophy, it focuses attention on moral problems as we encounter them in daily life, where the search for perfection and the incessant drive to meet obligations make it difficult to attain satisfaction. The book argues that uniformity is unproductive: Human natures are varied and changeable, making the effort to impose a unitary good on everyone futile. Moreover, we don't need to strive for more than what is good enough: Finite achievements should be adequate to satisfy finite people.

The ultimate aim of the book is to reclaim the role of philosophy as a guide to life. In doing so, it presents discussions of such important philosophers as Fichte, Hegel, Peirce, Dewey, James, and, above all, Santayana.

Author Biography

Vanessa Lemm is Professor in Philosophy at the School of Humanities and Languages of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. She is the author of Nietzsche's Animal Philosophy: Culture, Politics and the Animality of the Human Being (Fordham).

Miguel Vatter is Professor of Politics at the University of New South Wales. He is the author of Between Form and Event: Machiavelli's Theory of Political Freedom (Kluwer) with a paperback edition forthcoming with Fordham 2014.