The Morality of Happiness [Paperback]

Julia Annas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195096525 | ISBN-13: 978-0195096521 | Publication Date: April 13, 1995

Ancient ethical theories, based on the notions of virtue and happiness, have struck many as an attractive alternative to modern theories. But we cannot find out whether this is true until we understand ancient ethics--and to do this we need to examine the basic structure of ancient ethical theory, not just the details of one or two theories. In this book, Annas brings together the results of a wide-ranging study of ancient ethical philosophy and presents it in a way that is easily accessible to anyone with an interest in ancient or modern ethics. She examines the fundamental notions of happiness and virtue, the role of nature in ethical justification and the relation between concern for self and concern for others. Her careful examination of the ancient debates and arguments shows that many widespread assumptions about ancient ethics are quite mistaken. Ancient ethical theories are not egoistic, and do not depend for their acceptance on metaphysical theories of a teleological kind. Most centrally, they are recognizably theories of morality, and the ancient disputes about the place of virtue in happiness can be seen as akin to modern disputes about the demands of morality.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A richly nuanced and exceptionally clear historical study....A learned, provocative study that will redefine current debates about 'virtue-ethics' and its differences from moral theory. Strongly recommended for all college and university libraries."--Choice

"Annas presents both a brilliant analysis of ancient ethical theory and a powerfully argued defense of the priorities and approaches taken by ancient philosophers to ethical questions. Her mastery of a wide range of ancient (and modern) texts along with her skilled exposition of philosophical argument makes this an outstanding book...It will be required reading for any scholar of ancient ethical thought, and contemporary moral philosophers will find rich insights to bring back to their work as well....The Morality of Happiness will generously repay thoughtful reading. It is distinguished both by the comprehensive scope of its general thesis and by the subtlety of its details." --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"[An] admirable book....This is an important book. Many of Annas's claims will provoke scholarly controversy for some time to come; in the meantime, the book will be a tremendous help to those who want to understand the development of ancient ethics as a whole."--Times Educational Supplement

"[An] extremely worthwhile book."--International Philosophical Quarterly

"This ambitious, detailed survey...is at once unusually broad in its treatment of the varieties of Greek ethics, satisfyingly deep in its analysis of individual theories, and appropriately systematic throughout."--Religious Studies Review

About the Author

Julia Annas is at University of Arizona.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 13, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195096525
• ISBN-13: 978-0195096521
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dry, academic history, July 24, 2008

By 

Kornilov (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Morality of Happiness (Paperback)

You'd think a book with this title would have something to offer the earnest student and general reader. You might even hope that the author would bring to light the array of secrets to a happy life, known and taught by the great sages of antiquity. And you might, as I did, imagine that this hope was vaguely confirmed by the introductory chapter. But, alas, no. Annas is more professor and scholar than inspired teacher. She understands her subject to be so many ancient ethical theories, intellectual systems, with their strengths and weaknesses, their logical coherence or lack of it, etc. etc. --all to be argued about in implicit comparison to modern moral philosophies discussed only in universities. In other words, she fails to convey the practical spirit and inner life of the ancient thinkers she presents. She fails to grasp the real superiority of ancient wisdom to modern in the quest for happiness.

Take her chapter on the Stoics - rather thin, in light of the immense influence of Stoicism on Western culture and social thought. Annas does bring forward some useful citations from Arius and Diogenes, which give us some insight into early Stoicism. But her chapter gets entirely, yes entirely, bogged down in the purely theoretical preoccupation about what "natural" means in Stoic doctrines - especially the problem of how their ethics relates to ideas about Cosmic Nature. Hence she reads two of Stoicism's finest (and most popular) writers extremely poorly: Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Annas completely misses their originality and usefulness for real life! She appears actually to prefer Kant's bloodless formalist system, otherwise parasitic on Stoic thought. Only someone with academic blinders is capable of such a presentation. (Don't moral philosophy professors have to read Nietzsche on the dangerous banality of historical scholarship?) But saying that would not be quite fair to academics. For there are several, truly inspired discussions of the Stoics by other professors in print: Pierre Hadot, A. F. Bonhoeffer, Ludwig Edelstein. Ah, but none of their work appears in Annas' hefty bibliography of secondary sources. Too invigorating perhaps?

So this book seems to have the narrow utility of preparing its readers for extended (usually tedious) quarrels in the universities. It's for people who want to engage in historically informed, theoretical disputes about happiness, rather than for those who want to learn something practical from the ancients about how to live life happily.