The Freedom Paradox; Towards A Post-Secular Ethics

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781741755077
• ISBN10: 1741755077
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781741765571
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2008-08-01
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Summary

In this book, Hamilton forms a radical reconsideration of the meaning of freedom in the modern world, and a proposal for what he calls a "post-secular ethics"an ethics to supercede the mores of the post-1968 Western world. Despite all of the personal and political freedoms we now enjoy in the West, Clive argues that our "inner freedom," our very human capacity for considered will and the very ethical basis of our society, has been compromised by our relentless focus on impulse and immediate gratification. Drawing on the great metaphysical philosophers Kant and Schopenhauer, Hamilton develops a new theory of morality for our times. He argues that true inner freedom and acting according to moral law are one and the same, and essential to reaching psychological maturity.

Author Biography

Clive Hamilton is one of Australia's leading thinkers, and author of the bestsellers Growth Fetish and Affluenza.

Table of Contents

Part One: Freedom Reconsidered1 The disappointment of liberalism2 Rationale3 Types of happiness4 Freedom and happiness5 Types of liberty6 Inner freedom7 Do we prefer what we choose?8 Self-deception and akrasia9 A digression on the ethic of consent10 Exercising inner freedom11 Subtle coercion 12 The decline of free will13 From political philosophy to metaphysicsPart Two: Philosophical foundations14 The need for metaphysics15 Consciousness and the subject16 Phenomenon and noumenon17 The legislation for nature18 Scientific thinking19 Knowing and being20 Instances of non-sensible intuition21 The noumenon and the self22 A digression on the existence of God23 On deathPart Three: Towards a post-secular ethics24 Modern moral anxiety25 Moral relativism26 Reconstructing a moral code27 Rationalist ethics28 Genuine philanthropy29 The moral self