The study of the virtues has largely dropped out of modern philosophy, yet it was the predominant tradition in ethics from the ancient Greeks until Kant. Traditionally the study of the virtues included the study of what constituted a successful and happy life. Drawing on such diverse sources as Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Shakespeare, Hume, Jane Austen, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Sartre, Casey here argues that the classical virtues of courage, temperance, practical wisdom, and justice centrally define the good for humans, and that they are insufficiently acknowledged in modern moral philosophy. He suggests that values of success, worldliness, and pride are active parts of our moral thinking, and that the conflict between these and our equally important Christian inheritance leads to tensions and contradictions in our understanding of the moral life.
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"Deserves to be widely read and carefully debated."--The Thomist
"This learned text combines the insights of literature and philosophy, and offers some especially valuable interpretations of Shakespeare and Hume."--Choice
"Succinct and vigorous....A triumph of commonsense and lucidity...Two cheers for Dr. John Casey."--Sunday Correspondent
"Pagan Virtue is an archaeology of bygone beliefs, although "archaeology" is too dry a word to describe the verve with which he imaginatively brings to life that concept of the virtue....The book serves as an excellent layman's guide to some of the most central questions discussed by philosophers....Pagan Virtues deserves some of the highest praise which can be accorded to a work of philosophy: it speaks more directly to the general reader than to the specialist philosopher."--Financial Times
About the Author
John Casey, University Lecturer in English, University of Cambridge, and Fellow, Gonville and Caius College.
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