vbid/9780739190142

Description

Virtue theory, natural law, deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism: these are the basic moral theories taught in �Ethics,� �History of Philosophy,� and �Introduction to Philosophy� courses throughout the United States. When the American philosopher William James (1842 � 1910) find his way into these conversations, there is uncertainty about where his thinking fits. While utilitarianism has become the default position for teaching James�s pragmatism and radical empiricism, this default position fails to address and explain James�s multiple criticisms of John Stuart Mill�s formulaic approach to questions concerning the moral life. Through close readings of James�s writings, the chapters in William James, Moral Philosophy, and the Ethical Life catalogue the ways in whichJames wants to avoid the following: (a) the hierarchies of Christian natural law theory, (b) the moral calculus of Mill�s utilitarianism, (c) the absolutism and principle-ism of Immanuel Kant�s deontology, and (d) the staticity of the virtues found in Aristotle�s moral theory. Elaborating upon and clarifying James�s differences from these dominant moral theories is a crucial feature of this collection. This collection, is not, however, intended to be wholly negative � that is, only describing to readers what James�s moral theory is not. It seeks to articulate the positive features of James�s ethics and moral reasoning: what does it mean to an ethical life, and how should we theorize about morality?Typham this is the title: William James, Moral Philosophy, and the Ethical Life The Cries of the Wounded