Description
Andrew Flescher presents a sustained and learned argument in support of the centrality of altruistic behavior in the moral lives of ordinary people. Equally at home in moral philosophy and theological ethics, Flescher offers a powerful critique of the division in ethics between moral duty and supererogation. This work should open a significant debate over the validity of this distinction. -- Stephen G. Post, professor of bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, and president, Institute for Research on Unlimited Love In a scholarly yet lucid and persuasive fashion, Andrew Flescher rejects traditional notions of supererogation and argues that moral development toward altruism is a requirement of virtue. In Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality, he suggests how virtue ethics, properly understood, undermines all notions of moral complacency and makes possible the movement of character toward sainthood. An incisive and ambitious contribution to debates over the nature and limits of both commonsense morality and virtue. -- Terrence Reynolds, Department of Theology, Georgetown University With Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality, Andrew Flescher joins the ranks of the very best virtue ethicists working today. This learned yet accessible book argues that moral exemplars are the products of virtuous character. Invoking figures from fiction and poetry (Odysseus and Lord Jim) as well as history (Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, genocide rescuers, and even New York City firefighters), Flescher offers a compelling casethat altruism is within the grasp of ordinary mortals. In a rich and nuanced discussion, Flescher not only succeeds in repositioning the underexplored idea of supererogation to the center of moral reflection, but then presents his reader with a challenge to move forward in the moral life to discern new possibilities for personal moral development. Flescher offers here a stunning intellectual achievement, but even more importantly he prods the reader to reflect on moral complacency while providing clues for how to envision a better, more virtuous life. -- Lloyd Steffen, chair, Religion Studies, Lehigh University The events of September 11th, when many ordinary men and women risked their lives to help others, vividly remind us of the importance of moral heroism and courage. In this very up-to-date and well-reasoned study, Andrew Flescher criticizes the tendency of modern philosophy to minimize the importance of moral heroism. Drawing on materials as diverse as ethical theory, classical literature, and the memoirs of Holocaust rescuers, Flescher argues that heroism and saintlinesss have a place in all of our lives because each of us has a lifelong duty to become morally better than we are. -- Ronald M. Green, Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values and director of the Ethics Institute, Dartmouth College
About the Author
Andrew Michael Flescher is assistant professor, Department of Religious Studies and director of the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, California State University at Chico.
Reviews
While fully recognizing the sometimes horrifying nature of human existence, it is a book of measured hope. Chico Enterprise-Record
Book Information
ISBN 9780878401376
Author Andrew Michael Flescher
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Georgetown University Press
Publisher Georgetown University Press
Weight(grams) 612g