Human Predicaments
And What to Do about Them
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents
Contents
A Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments
1 Human Predicaments and Problems
The Question
The Aim
2 Deep Conflicts
The Standard View
The Shilluk
The Exclusivist Mistake
The Parochial Mistake
The Optimistic Mistake
Facing Conflicts
3 Difficult Choices
Commitments
Difficult Choices
Decisions
The Hindu and Balinese Alternatives
Consequences
Toward Reasonable Decisions
4 The Force of Fate
What Is Fate?
What Is Autonomy?
Three Metaphors
Mistaken Evaluations
Hiromichi Yahara
Correcting Evaluations
5 Fear of Meaninglessness
Fear
Prudence
Prudential Strategies
Reasons for Prudence
Reasons against Prudence
Avoiding Extremes
6 The Contingencies of Life
The Counsel of Imperfection
Contingencies
Justice
Scarcity, Incorrigibility, and Conflict
Imperfect Justice
7 The Divided Self
The Self
Dissociation of Sensibility
The Ideal of an Undivided Self
Hernan Cortes
Simone Weil
Reasonable Doubt
Negative Capability
8 The Complexities of Problems
The Problem
Avoiding Confusion
Difficult Choices
Conflicts
Michel de Montaigne
Doubts
Toward Realism
9 Unavoidable Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Authenticity
Defending Authenticity
The Value of Life
Hypocrisy or Authenticity?
Against Formulas
10 The Miasma of Boredom
Understanding Boredom
Explanation
Characteristics
The Predicament
Why Now?
Possible Responses
Coping with Boredom
11 The Prevalence of Evil
What Is Evil?
The Aztecs
The End of Reasons?
The Need for Reasons
The Importance of Alternatives
Good Will
12 The Danger of Innocence
The Conflict
The Ideal of Innocence
Deianera
The Ideal of Reflection
Reflection, Innocence, and Ideal Theories
Toward Deeper Understanding
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
1 Human Predicaments and Problems
The Question
The Aim
2 Deep Conflicts
The Standard View
The Shilluk
The Exclusivist Mistake
The Parochial Mistake
The Optimistic Mistake
Facing Conflicts
3 Difficult Choices
Commitments
Difficult Choices
Decisions
The Hindu and Balinese Alternatives
Consequences
Toward Reasonable Decisions
4 The Force of Fate
What Is Fate?
What Is Autonomy?
Three Metaphors
Mistaken Evaluations
Hiromichi Yahara
Correcting Evaluations
5 Fear of Meaninglessness
Fear
Prudence
Prudential Strategies
Reasons for Prudence
Reasons against Prudence
Avoiding Extremes
6 The Contingencies of Life
The Counsel of Imperfection
Contingencies
Justice
Scarcity, Incorrigibility, and Conflict
Imperfect Justice
7 The Divided Self
The Self
Dissociation of Sensibility
The Ideal of an Undivided Self
Hernan Cortes
Simone Weil
Reasonable Doubt
Negative Capability
8 The Complexities of Problems
The Problem
Avoiding Confusion
Difficult Choices
Conflicts
Michel de Montaigne
Doubts
Toward Realism
9 Unavoidable Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Authenticity
Defending Authenticity
The Value of Life
Hypocrisy or Authenticity?
Against Formulas
10 The Miasma of Boredom
Understanding Boredom
Explanation
Characteristics
The Predicament
Why Now?
Possible Responses
Coping with Boredom
11 The Prevalence of Evil
What Is Evil?
The Aztecs
The End of Reasons?
The Need for Reasons
The Importance of Alternatives
Good Will
12 The Danger of Innocence
The Conflict
The Ideal of Innocence
Deianera
The Ideal of Reflection
Reflection, Innocence, and Ideal Theories
Toward Deeper Understanding
Notes
Bibliography
Review Quotes
Stephen Mulhall, University of Oxford
“This book uses fascinating historical and anthropological material to leaven a clear and provocative discussion of issues such as boredom, hypocrisy, evil, and innocence—phenomena that are at the center of most people’s evaluative lives yet can often be pushed to the margins in contemporary moral philosophy.”
John Cottingham, University of Reading and University of Oxford
“In this latest set of reflections on the human condition, Kekes displays all the philosophical virtues for which his work is rightly esteemed. Mistrusting schematic answers and monolithic solutions, and drawing on a rich array of sources and examples, he addresses the manifold puzzles of our existence with an unfailingly calm and judicious reasonableness.”
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Philosophy: Ethics | General Philosophy | Philosophy of Society
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