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Transcendental Guilt
Reflections on Ethical Finitude
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Publisher:
2011
Summary
In Transcendental Guilt: Reflections on Ethical Finitude, Sami Pihlstr#246;m argues that the concept of guilt is fundamental to moral philosophy and to our self-understanding as moral agents. As the author emphasizes the constitutive role played by this concept, or by our capacity to experience the corresponding moral emotion(s), he labels the both ethically and metaphysically fundamental kind of guilt to be discussed transcendental guilt. However, the book does not merely illuminate this specific ethical concept. It also seeks to intensify our understanding of the nature of moral thought itself, especially of the seriousness of the moral point of view. Thus, Transcendental Guilt poses a challenge to our ethical self-conceptions, and also to our philosophical attempts to understand them. This book does not attempt a new ethical theory. Rather, it is critical of the very idea of ethical theory, especially if by ethical theory we mean a systematically organized structure setting us universal or absolute moral norms and principles. Nor does Pihlström engage in metaethical theorizing about the meaning of ethical concepts. Rather, the book engages in moral reflection, which is something significantly broader than (meta)ethical theorizing. In moral reflection, we are not establishing theoretically justified normative principles or constructing theories about the meaning of moral language; instead, we are reflecting on our finite human lives_our lives with other human beings_as presenting us with personal yet fundamental moral demands. Moreover, the moral reflection practiced in the book is both historically informed and philosophically systematic. Scholars, graduate or advanced undergraduate students, and general educated readers interested in fundamental issues in ethics will appreciate the novel perspective presented, which challenges mainstream ideas about moral theories and the foundations of ethical thought.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2011
ISBN-Print
978-0-7391-6436-5
ISBN-Online
978-0-7391-6705-2
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
135
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Preface No access
Notes No access
Why Is Guilt Fundamental? No access
Guilt and Remorse No access
The Transcendental Significance of Guilt No access
Moral and Metaphysical Guilt No access
Guilt, Ethics, and Literature No access
Some Methodological Remarks No access
Notes No access
Morality “from Within” No access
Wittgenstein and Transcendental Solipsism No access
Acknowledging Otherness No access
Our True Motives? No access
Notes No access
Benatar’s Arguments and Their Problems No access
Cultural Unthinkabilities No access
The Integration of Ethics and Metaphysics No access
Notes No access
The Basic Challenge No access
Our Two Options and Their Historical Contexts No access
How to Choose between the Alternatives? No access
A Non-perspectival Perspective? No access
Meaning and Guilt No access
The Transcendental and the Transcendent No access
A Transcendentally Constituted Transcendence? No access
Notes No access
Implied (Philosophical) Authors and Readers No access
Understanding a Text and Understanding Its Author No access
The “I” of a Philosophical Narrative: Confessing One’s Guilt No access
Reflexivity No access
Variations of Transcendental Subjectivity No access
Transcendental Self-Deception: Who Am I? No access
Notes No access
Moral Tragedies—and a Short Argument No access
Concluding Remarks on Morality, Religion, and Original Sin No access
