Patterns of Moral Complexity [Paperback]

Larmore aims to recover three forms of moral complexity that have often been neglected by moral and political philosophers.An exploration of the complexities involved in the role of moral judgement, the nature of liberalism, and the foundation of ethics argues that modern moral theories, Kantian and utilitarian, have wrongly portrayed virtue as simply the conscientious adherence to principle.An exploration of the complexities involved in the role of moral judgement, the nature of liberalism, and the foundation of ethics argues that modern moral theories, Kantian and utilitarian, have wrongly portrayed virtue as simply the conscientious adherence to principle.Larmore aims to recover three forms of moral complexity that have often been neglected by moral and political philosophers. First, he argues that virtue is not simply the conscientious adherence to principle. Rather, the exercise of virtue apply. He argues - and this is the second pattern of complexity - that recognizing the value of constitutive ties with shared forms of life does not undermine the liberal ideal of political neutrality toward differing ideals of the good life. Finally Larmore agrues for what he calls the heterogeneity of morality. Moral thinking need not be exclusively deontological or consequentialist, and we should recognize that the ultimate sources of moral value are diverse. The arguments presented here do not attack the possibility of moral theory. But in addressing some of the central issues of moral and political thinking today thay attempt to restore to that thinking greater flexibility and a necessary sensitivity to our common experience.1. Moral judgement - an Aristotelian insight; 2. The limits of neo-Aristotelianism; 3. Liberalism and the neutrality of the state; 4. The political order and personal ideals; 5. Political romanticism; 6. The heterogeneity of morality; Conclusion. ....a solid piece of work--clearly written, admirably free of cant, historically informed, and analyticalll"