The Time of Our Lives - The Ethics of Common Sense (Paperback, Fordham University Press ed)

For someone not sensitive to the intricacies of ethical theory and unwilling, to ponder the Freer points, this may all sound strikingly like advice from Ann Landers, but the sharp philosophy student will realize that it is essentially an expounding, extension, and refinement of moral insights derived from Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics in a twentieth Century context. Adler's tract, based on his third series of Encyclopaedia Britannica-Lectures at the University of Chicago, is a high-level defense and development of seemingly simplistic common-sense answers to questions like: "How can I make a really good life for myself?"; "Is this a good time to be alive?"; "Is ours a good society to be alive in?" The central idea is that age-old "pursuit of happiness" but Adler imbues it with contemporary relevance by assessing the ways in which the culture of a society encourages or discourages efforts to make a good life (for a focus on the political factors, wait for Adler's next book). So although, yes indeed, this is a good time and a good society to be alive in, there is still a need for a moral and educational revolution, one must still work strenuously to rectify existing injustices through radical social, economic, and political reform (but New Leftists are lacking, in tree moral wisdom). Activists may be unmoved by the Aristotelian putdown, but there should be a considerable audience appreciative of this careful substantiation of enlightened common sense. (Kirkus Reviews)

Is it a good time to be alive? Is ours a good society to be alive in? Is it possible to have a good life in our time? And finally, does a good life consist of having a good time? Are happiness and "a good life" interchangeable? These are the questions that Mortimer Adler addresses himself to. The heart of the book lies in its conception of the good life for man, which provides the standard for measuring a century, a society, or a culture: for upon that turns the meaning of each man's primary moral right - his right to the pursuit of happiness. The moral philosophy that Dr. Adler expounds in terms of this conception he calls "the ethics of common sense," because it is as a defense and development of the common-sense answer to the question "can I really make a good life for myself?"

General

Imprint:	Fordham University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	1996
First published:	1996
Authors:	Mortimer J. Adler
Dimensions:	216 x 140 x 22mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade / Trade
Pages:	361
Edition:	Fordham University Press ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-8232-1670-3
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Promotions
LSN:	0-8232-1670-5
Barcode:	9780823216703

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