The aim of Ethics and Self-Cultivation is to establish and explore a new 'cultivation of the self' strand within contemporary moral philosophy. Although the revival of virtue ethics has helped reintroduce the eudaimonic tradition into mainstream philosophical debates, it has by and large been a revival of Aristotelian ethics combined with a modern preoccupation with standards for the moral rightness of actions. The essays comprising this volume offer a fresh approach to the eudaimonic tradition: instead of conditions for rightness of actions, it focuses on conceptions of human life that are best for the one living it. The first section of essays looks at the Hellenistic schools and the way they influenced modern thinkers like Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche, Hadot, and Foucault in their thinking about self-cultivation. The second section offers contemporary perspectives on ethical self-cultivation by drawing on work in moral psychology, epistemology of self-knowledge, philosophy of mind, and meta-ethics.

About the Author

Matthew Dennis is a doctoral researcher on the joint-PhD programme of the universities of Warwick (UK) and Monash (Australia), specialising in philosophical accounts of character-development and self-cultivation. His current work draws on French and German philosophy, exploring how these traditions have the resources to contribute to debates in Anglophone ethics. He has published on Nietzsche, Kant, and virtue theory, and is currently writing on the philosophy of technology.

Sander Werkhoven is an Assistant Professor of Ethics at the Department of Philosophy at Utrecht University and a member of the Ethics Institute. His main research areas are the philosophy of medicine and psychiatry, normative ethics, and meta-ethics. He has published on theories of health and well-being in international journals, and has papers forthcoming on Nietzsche, Canguilhem, and Foucault.

Reviews

"This book makes an important contribution to the growing body of literature on the cultivation of virtue. It focuses on the influence of Hellenistic tradition, with its emphasis on the continued development of the self, on modern philosophy, and also includes a number of contemporary perspectives on moral self-cultivation. The volume will be of interest to scholars and graduate students in moral philosophy, moral psychology, philosophy of mind and epistemology." - Liezl van Zyl, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Book Information
ISBN 9780367666965
Author Matthew Dennis
Format Paperback
Page Count 246
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g