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SELF-RESTRAINT AND MORALITY
- Source :
- Manuscrito, Volume: 43, Issue: 3, Pages: 55-71, Published: 21 OCT 2020, Manuscrito v.43 n.3 2020, Manuscrito, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), instacron:UNICAMP, Manuscrito, Vol 43, Iss 3, Pp 55-71 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Centro de Lógica, Epistemologia e História da Ciência, 2020.
-
Abstract
- The item was in the news. A public official said that he would hire a male rather than a female driver, because following the growing influence of the #MeToo movement, hiring a man would be safer. That way nobody would accuse him of harassment. The official’s declaration aroused justified public criticism. Being a public official, he must be committed to equality-in-hiring practices. But suppose that it were a private individual, who wanted to do his utmost to keep away from temptation. It might seem that there is nothing wrong with that: he is free to hire whomever he wishes, and his caution is justified: planning ahead and resisting temptation are marks of rationality and personhood, in Harry Frankfurt’s sense of the term. But why should one be so cautious to begin with? Challenging other philosophical analyses of temptation, I argue that temptations are hardly irresistible. We should all take responsibility for our actions and behavior. It is a moral duty to control ourselves and not let others pay the price for our shortcomings. This notion is both Kantian, as it emphasizes autonomy, and Aristotelian: it urges us to work on our virtues.
- Subjects :
- Logic
Personhood
media_common.quotation_subject
B1-5802
Rationality
Temptation
050905 science studies
0603 philosophy, ethics and religion
nobody
Nothing
Political science
Philosophy (General)
media_common
Ethics
BC1-199
05 social sciences
06 humanities and the arts
Morality
Philosophy
Law
060302 philosophy
Criticism
0509 other social sciences
Self-restraint
Autonomy
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Manuscrito, Volume: 43, Issue: 3, Pages: 55-71, Published: 21 OCT 2020, Manuscrito v.43 n.3 2020, Manuscrito, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), instacron:UNICAMP, Manuscrito, Vol 43, Iss 3, Pp 55-71 (2020)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....83182c23c44e3c43bf6335601558038c