Research Catalog

Title

Pluralism in philosophy : changing the subject / John Kekes.

Author

Kekes, John.

Publication

Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

ix, 225 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• "This book aims to change how we think about good lives. The perennial debates about good lives - the disagreements caused by conflicts among scientific, religious, moral, historical, aesthetic, and subjective modes of reflection - typically end in an impasse. This leaves the underlying problems of the meaning of life, the possibility of free action, the place of morality in good lives, the art of life, and human self-understanding as intractable as they have ever been.".
• "The way out of this impasse, argues Kekes, is to abandon the assumption shared by the contending parties that the solutions of these problems can be rational only if they apply universally to all lives in all contexts. He believes that solutions may vary with lives and contexts and still be rational. Kekes defends a pluralistic alternative to absolutism and relativism that will, he holds, take philosophy in a new and more productive direction."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Life
• Pluralism

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-222) and index.

Contents

Introduction : At a turning point -- Everyday life -- Modes of reflection -- Philosophical problems -- The pluralistic approach -- The meaning of life -- The possibility of free action -- The place of morality in good lives -- The art of life -- The nature of human self-understanding -- Conclusion : The human world.

ISBN

0801438055 (alk. paper)

LCCN

00009351

OCLC

• ocm44013895
• SCSB-3986365

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries