The Moral Life:
Essays in Honour of John Cottingham


The Moral Life


edited by Nafsika Athanassoulis and Samantha Vice

‘This is a very fine collection of essays, celebrating John Cottingham's seminal work on three major issues: the place of impartiality and partiality in ethics and in our lives; the interplay of reason and emotion; and the relation between the religious attitude and the meaning of life. The contributors engage closely with Cottingham's work, which gives a remarkable thematic unity to the book. I recommend it highly.’
David McNaugton,
Professor of Philosophy Florida State University and Honorary Vice-President, British Society for Ethical Theory

‘This fine collection of essays honours the distinguished work of John Cottingham. The contributors examine critically his distinctive and thoughtful treatments of some of the most fundamental questions in ethics, such as the meaning of life, the connection between religion and ethics, the psychoanalytic approach to human motivation, and the place of emotions in ethics. Cottingham’s replies defend, develop, and clarify his views. All in all, this is a most valuable exchange showing how philosophy can be done reasonably and humanistically without the mock precision and jargon that imitates scientific writings.’
John Kekes
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Albany. 


PART 1: PARTIALITY, SPIRITUALITY AND CHARACTER
‘The Significance of the Self: Partiality and Spirituality’ Samantha Vice
‘Contempt and Integrity’ Max de Gaynesford
‘Self-Love, Love of Neighbour, and Impartiality’
David S. Oderberg

PART 2: THE EMOTIONS AND THE GOOD LIFE
‘Akrasia and the Emotions’ Nafsika Athanassoulis
‘The Inner Life of the “Dear Self” ’ Seiriol Morgan
‘What Reason Can't Do’ Michael Lacewing

PART 3: THE MEANING OF LIFE
‘Meaning, Morality, and Religion’ Roger Crisp
‘The Meaning of Life: Subjectivism, Objectivism, and Divine Support’ Brad Hooker
‘God, Morality and the Meaning of Life’ Thad Metz

PART 4: REFLECTIONS AND REPLIES
‘The Self, the Good Life and the Transcendent’ John Cottingham

From the publishers (Palgrave Macmillan):
Few contemporary philosophers have made as wide-ranging and insightful a contribution to philosophical debate as John Cottingham. This collection brings together friends, colleagues and former students of Cottingham, to discuss major themes of his work on moral philosophy. Presented in three parts, the collection focuses on the debate on partiality, impartiality and character; the role of emotions and reason in the good life; the meaning of a worthwhile life and the place of theistic considerations in it. The original contributions to this volume celebrate Cottingham’s work by embracing and furthering his arguments and, at times, in the best spirit of philosophical engagement, challenging and confronting them. The volume concludes with Cottingham’s specially commissioned responses to the contributions.


The Editors:
NAFSIKA ATHANASSOULIS, former Lecturer in Ethics at Keele University, UK, author of Morality: Moral Luck and Responsibility: Fortune’s Web and editor of Philosophical Reflections on Medical Ethics.
 
SAMANTHA VICE,  Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Rhodes University, South Africa, co-author, with Ward E. Jones, of Ethics in Film, and of articles in many topics in moral philosophy including the self, goodness, self-judgement and the work of Iris Murdoch.

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
published: 09 May 2008
304 Pages
ISBN  978-0-230-52756-0 (hb)
978-1-349-35825-0 (pb)
978-0-230-58315-3 (ebook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230583153