Perfectionism

by Hurka, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780195101164
• ISBN10: 0195101162
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-01-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Perfectionism is one of the great moralities of the Western tradition. It holds that certain states of humans, such as knowledge, achievement, and friendship, are good apart from any pleasure they may bring, and that the morally right act is always the one that most promotes these states. Defined more narrowly, perfectionism identifies the human good by reference to human nature: if knowledge and achievement are good, it is because they realize aspects of human nature. This book gives an account of perfectionism, first in the narrower sense, analyzing its central concepts and defending a theory of human nature in which rationality plays a central role. It then uses this theory to construct an elaborate account of the intrinsic value of beliefs and actions that embody rationality, and applies this account to political questions about liberty and equality. The book attempts to formulate the most defensible version of perfectionism, using contemporary analytic techniques. It aims both to regain for perfectionism a central place in contemporary moral debate and to shed light on the writings of classical perfectionists such as Aristotle, Aquinas, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and T.H. Green.

Author Biography

Thomas Hurka is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary, where he is an Executive Editor of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 3
The Perfectionist Idea
The Concept of Human Nature	p. 9
Distinctiveness and Essence	p. 10
Essence and Life	p. 14
Nature: Objections	p. 18
Accretions and Methods	p. 23
Accretions	p. 23
Perfectionist Naturalism	p. 28
Defending Perfectionism	p. 31
How Are Essences Known?	p. 33
The Human Essence	p. 37
The Aristotelian Theory: Physical Essence	p. 37
The Aristotelian Theory: Rationality	p. 39
The Aristotelian Theory: Objections	p. 44
The Wrong Explanations?	p. 48
Aristotelian Perfectionism
The Basic Structure	p. 55
Maximizing Consequentialism	p. 55
Time- and Agent-Neutrality	p. 60
The Asymmetry	p. 64
Competition and Co-operation	p. 66
Aggregation	p. 69
Summing and Averaging	p. 70
Maximax	p. 75
Single-Peak Perfection	p. 79
Conclusion	p. 82
The Well-Rounded Life	p. 84
Lexical and Constant Comparisons	p. 85
Balancing	p. 88
Dilettantism and Concentration	p. 91
Many-Person Balancing?	p. 97
Trying, Deserving, Succeeding	p. 99
Number and Quality	p. 99
Attempt	p. 103
Deserving Attempt	p. 105
Success and Deserved Success	p. 108
The Best Units?	p. 112
Unity and Complexity	p. 114
Generality: Extent and Dominance	p. 114
Generality: Elaborations	p. 116
Top-to-Bottom Knowledge	p. 119
The Unified Life	p. 121
Complex, Difficult Activities	p. 123
Politics, Co-operation, and Love	p. 129
Political Action	p. 129
Co-operation	p. 132
Love and Friendship	p. 134
Generality: Objections	p. 137
Generality: The Tradition	p. 141
Perfectionism and Politics
Liberty	p. 147
Autonomy as a Perfection	p. 148
The Asymmetry Argument	p. 152
Sexual Enforcement and Paternalism	p. 156
Liberty versus Neutrality	p. 158
Equality: Abilities and Marginal Utility	p. 161
Deep Equality	p. 161
Desert and Aggregation	p. 163
Natural Abilities	p. 165
Diminishing Marginal Utility	p. 169
Equality: Co-operation and the Market	p. 176
Arguments from Co-operation	p. 176
Illustrations and Limitations	p. 180
Property and Property-Freedom	p. 183
Self-Reliance versus Dependence	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 190
Notes	p. 193
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 215
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