After 1945, Britain wanted to be a new country.
The authority of state and church were giving way, the Empire was dismantled, and it was no longer clear who was leading whom in matters of morals. Individuals were left to reinvent their ethical lives anew.
The lives and works of the philosophers discussed in this book were caught up this sea-change. Bernard Williams, Philippa Foot, Iris Murdoch, Richard Wollheim, Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre were all characters in search of a moral England, with a particular vision of the good society. From communitarianism to swinging Sixties' individualism, and radical theories of art – which understood questions of ambiguity, error and forgiveness more than the state ever could – this is the story of their sometimes convergent but often discrepant ideas on ethical life in the second half of the twentieth century.
Undoing the Moral Empire is a work of biography, social history and the history of ideas that masterfully reconstructs the shifting sentiments of the post-war era, reconfiguring enduringly relevant questions of freedom, virtue, and society.
- 273 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Information
Topic
PhilosophySubtopic
Ethics & Moral PhilosophyTable of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Series Page
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A new morality for a new country
- 1 Bernard Williams: Undoing the moral empire
- 2 Iris Murdoch: A spiritual guardian in an age of abandon
- 3 Philippa Foot: Common plans and solidarity
- 4 Richard Wollheim: Myself and other projects
- 5 Alasdair MacIntyre: The supreme value of community
- 6 Charles Taylor: Why we must hold on to the higher values
- Conclusion: Prescriptions, pluralism and muddle
- Notes
- Index of Names
- Index of Topics
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Yes, you can access Undoing the Moral Empire by Lesley Chamberlain in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Ethics & Moral Philosophy. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.