Eros and the Good: Wisdom According to Nature - Hardcover

Gouinlock, James S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1591021480 ISBN 13: 9781591021483

Publisher: Prometheus, 2004

Synopsis

Plato defined eros as the yearning for things beautiful and good. It is on this original sense that philosopher James Gouinlock bases this insightful study of ethics and wisdom. Gouinlock argues that the only fruitful way to evaluate the norms of social life is to understand them as natural forces, not as arbitrary matters of convention or derivatives of some abstract theory. The good life and the meanings of life consist in the recognition and pursuit of values that are already resident in natural experience. Successful pursuit of them requires teaching, the accumulation of wisdom, and the cultivation of virtue. Above all is eros, the motivating force that drives us to search for life’s most precious goods. In so doing we acquire a "wisdom according to nature."
Inspired by Greek philosophy, Gouinlock’s approach avoids the pitfalls of moral systems that evolve out of abstract theorizing and tend to ignore well-established practice and conviction. Gouinlock makes the important point that social practices, like natural forces, though subject to change in varying degrees, are rarely amenable to radical overhaul. The real values of common life occur in a difficult, demanding, and often-perilous environment. This is not a context in which anything goes, for it possesses inherent constraints as well as opportunities. As Gouinlock shows in detail, there is much wisdom to be gained from understanding the distinctive functions of nature in the conduct of life.
Written with clarity and eloquence, this original and fully developed philosophy of life makes fundamental philosophical arguments accessible to educated lay readers as well as to professional philosophers.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

In EROS AND THE GOOD, philosopher James Gouinlock examines the nature of human ideals, the state of contemporary culture, the self-image of man, and the meanings of life. With breadth of learning and reflection, Gouinlock presents a searching examination of the nature of morality and the good life. Whether it be the trained philosopher, or the professional inquirer concerned with the moral life and its presuppositions, or any individual who seeks wisdom about human existence, the reader will find a wealth of challenging and rewarding ideas.

In a candid, original, and disciplined analysis, Gouinlock contends that stability and fulfillment in life depend on specifiable natural conditions. These conditions are not mere conventions, and they are not indefinitely manipulable. While they permit of diversities, they also constitute well-defined limits. To know these conditions 0 or orders, as Gouinlock also calls them - is to possess wisdom according to nature. Our generic moral problem is not that of certifying moral judgments as absolute but in identifying and establishing forms of life that are suitable to the real demands and promises of natural existence. Wisdom is not a form of moral absolutism, nor is it by any means a form of relativism. Wisdom requires that definite moral principles and practices be accorded very high priority in our behavior, or failure and even disaster await us. We learn of these natural orders throughout this lucid and eloquent study.

Gouinlock affirms that natural discipline and potentialities support human flourishing and happiness, but we must develop the virtues appropriate to them. Drawing upon such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Santayana, and Dewey, Gouinlock offers an account of the forms of excellence that are truly suitable to the human condition. He argues convincingly that the virtues are the greatest human asset, and they withstand any assault from moral relativism. The forms of ideal life that the exercise of virtue might yield are set forth in detail. This is the life of eros: devotion to ideal goods. Not in generations has any philosopher written of the life of eros in such a compelling manner.

This is a book to seize anyone's moral imagination. At the same time, it brings a clarity and understanding to moral thought and moral life that will be welcomed by all those who seek intelligibility in this most important dimension of human endeavor, whether they be philosophers, psychologists, social scientists, or students of the humanities.

About the Author:

James S. Gouinlock (Atlanta, GA) is professor emeritus of philosophy at Emory University and the author or editor of six books, including Rediscovering the Moral Life: Philosophy and Human Practice and The Moral Writings of John Dewey.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1591021480
• ISBN 13: 9781591021483
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 363