How much does ethics demand of us? On what authority does it demand it? How does what ethics demand relate to other requirements, such as those of prudence, law, and social convention? Does ethics really demand anything at all? Questions of this sort lie at the heart of the work of the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Logstrup (1905-1981), and in particular his key text The Ethical Demand (1956). In The Radical Demand in Logstrup's Ethics, Robert Stern offers a full account of that text, and situates Logstrup's distinctive position in relation to Kant, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Darwall and Luther. For Logstrup, the ethical situation is primarily one in which the fate of the other person is placed in your hands, where it is then your responsibility to do what is best for them. The demand therefore does not come from the other person as such, as what they ask you to do may be different from what you should do. It is also not laid down by social rules, nor by God or by any formal principle of practical reason, such as Kant's principle of universalizability. Rather, it comes from what is required to care for the other, and the directive power of their needs in the situation. Logstrup therefore rejects accounts of ethical obligation based on the commands of God, or on abstract principles governing practical reason, or on social norms; instead he develops a different picture, at the basis of which is our interdependence, which he argues gives his ethics a grounding in the nature of life itself.

About the Author
Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously a student and then Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He is currently engaged in a translation project on K. E. Logstrup's main works, to be published by Oxford University Press, which will include a re-translation of The Ethical Demand.

Reviews
terrific ... The book gracefully introduces Logstrup to the uninitiated reader, but more impressively, it builds a critical apparatus around his work of remarkable depth .... It is truly a rich book. I naturally recommend it to those interested in the historical moment Logstrup inhabited, but I recommend it even more strongly to those interested in original approaches to the foundations of ethics. * Kenneth Walden, European Journal of Philosophy *
Stern's book and his forthcoming translations of Logstrup's works will hopefully gain a wider reading, so that others may continue to take up the debate that Stern has begun. * Aaron Klink, Chaplain at Pruitt-Health Hospice, Durham, North Carolina, Reading Religion *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198829027
Author Robert Stern
Format Hardback
Page Count 388
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 164mm * 26mm