Making a Necessity of Virtue : Aristotle and Kant on Virtue

by Nancy Sherman

• ISBN13: 9780521563833
• ISBN10: 0521563836
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-01-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is the first to offer a detailed analysis of Aristotelian and Kantian ethics together, in a way that remains faithful to the texts and responsive to debates in contemporary ethics. Recent moral philosophy has seen a revival of interest in the concept of virtue, and with it a reassessment of the role of virtue in the work of Aristotle and Kant. This book brings that re-assessment to a new level of sophistication. Nancy Sherman argues that Kant preserves a notion of virtue in his moral theory that bears recognisable traces of the Aristotelian and Stoic traditions, and that his complex anthropology of morals brings him into surprising alliance with Aristotle. She develops her argument through close readings of major texts by both Aristotle and Kant, illustrating points of congruence and contrast.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	xi	(3)
Abbreviations and Notes on Translations	xiv
Chapter 1 A New Dialogue	1	(23)
1 The Framing Questions	5	(4)
2 Activity, Agency, and External Goods: Aristotle, the Stoics, and Kant	9	(11)
3 A Brief Overview	20	(4)
Chapter 2 The Emotional Structure of Aristotelian Virtue	24	(75)
1 Opening a Dialogue on the Emotions	24	(4)
2 The Alleged Problem with Emotions	28	(11)
3 How Emotions Figure in Morality	39	(13)
4 Aristotelian Emotions	52	(23)
5 Emotions and Their Relation to Choice	75	(8)
6 Cultivating Emotions	83	(6)
7 Cultivating Emotions Through Music and Tragedy	89	(4)
8 Virtue and Nonconflictual Emotions	93	(6)
Chapter 3 A Brief Stoic Interlude	99	(22)
1 Against Aristotelian Moderation	101	(6)
2 Stoic Therapy	107	(9)
3 Stoic Apathy and Kantian Antisentimentalism	116	(5)
Chapter 4 The Passional Underpinnings of Kantian Virtue	121
1 Some Background	121