![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Loosely speaking, hagiographical treatment and ethical systems have to go hand in hand, or else we’re not buying. Even the recent discovery of Paul de Man’s tawdry existence as an anti-Semitic con man has disturbed many of the followers of his critical theory, and he was no ascetic preacher of love for one’s neighbor. Of course the truth value of the exemplary biographies of Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus, to name just a few, is unascertainable, but such accounts seem prerequisite to the success of their teachings. Schwitzgebel and Rust focus on scholars rather than saints, but if we looked beyond their specific observations, we might notice that-historically speaking-we demand that just the opposite be true of our great ethical models. In a series of studies, Eric Schwitzgebel and Joshua Rust have argued that there is “a general tendency for ethicists to embrace more stringent moral views overall” than the other academic groups they studied, but not to engage in behavior that was any more ethical. Hardcover $27.95.ĭoes holding high ideals make you behave any better? Recent scholarship in ethics and psychology has surprisingly suggested that the answer is no. Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero. ![]()
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