Enjoyment: The Moral Significance of Styles of Life

by John Kekes

Overview

In this book John Kekes examines the indispensable role enjoyment plays in a good life. The key to it is the development of a style of life that combines an attitude and a manner of living and acting that jointly express one's deepest concerns. Since such styles vary with characters and circumstances, a reasonable understanding of them requires attending to the particular and concrete details of individual lives. Reflection on works of literature is a better guide to this kind of understanding than the futile search for general theories and principles that preoccupies much of contemporary moral thought.

Enjoyment proceeds by the detailed examination of particular cases, shows how this kind of reflection can be reasonably conducted, and how the quest for universality and impartiality is misguided in this context. Central to the argument is a practical, particular, pluralistic, and yet objective conception of reason that rejects the pervasive contemporary tendency to regard reasons as good only if they are binding on all who aspire to live reasonably and morally. Reason in morality is neither theoretical nor general. Reasons for living and acting in particular ways are individually variable and none the worse for that.

Kekes aims to reorient moral thought from deontological, contractarian, and consequentialist preoccupations toward a reasonable but pluralistic reflection on what individuals can do to make their lives better.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199592494
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/19/2010
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John Kekes has been Research Professor at the State University of New York and Visiting Professor in Canada, Estonia, Hungary, Portugal, and Singapore. He has received Fellowships from the Canada Council, the State University of New York, and the Woodrow Wilson, Rockefeller, and Earhart Foundations. He is the author of fifteen books and many articles on moral and political thought.

Table of Contents

Part One: Introduction1. A Grace to be CultivatedPart Two: Styles of Life2. Pursuing Our Own Good3. Personal Evaluation4. The Importance of MannerPart Three: The Evaluation of Styles of Live5. A Great and Rare Art6. Three-Dimensional Morality7. The Uses of Reason in MoralityPart Four: Some Particular Styles of Life8. A Most Perfect Gentleman9. A Morbid Romantic10. An Enemy of Happiness11. A Wise and Virtuous Man12. A Certain Gaiety of Heart13. The Rightful Enjoyment of Our BeingPart Five: Conclusion14. The Felicity We Make or FindNotesWork CitedIndex

Editorial Reviews

"A novel approach to modern moral philosophy and a continuation of Kekes' previous advocacy for moral pluralism.... A good starting point for a much needed discussion in contemporary virtue ethics. Recommended."—L.A. Wilkinson, CHOICE

"Kekes' authorial voice is even-keeled and amiable, and his narrative moves briskly along. He is, moreover, a person of wide learning who is capable of discussing history, literature, and biography in an insightful way.... In Enjoyment: The Moral Significance of Styles of Life, John Kekes articulates a panoramic vision of moral life — a vision that will be appealing to many readers. He also illustrates what important resources literature and biography are for moral philosophy, particularly for those who accept his particularism and pluralism. The synthetic abilities that are required for Kekes' style of philosophical thinking and writing are perhaps undervalued in professional philosophy at present."—Jason R. Raibley, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

From the Publisher