TY - JOUR
T1 - Morality and a meaningful life
AU - Thomas, Laurence
PY - 2005/11
Y1 - 2005/11
N2 - I aim to capture the intuition that the moral person is, in virtue of being such, favored over the immoral person to lead a meaningful life. I argue that the reason for this is that the moral person is open to affirmation from others in a way that the immoral person is not. Central to the argument is the idea of psychological health. Being affirmed by others is a fundamental aspect of being psychologically healthy. Thus, I say that being moral and being psychologically healthy dovetail with respect to leading a meaningful life. With this argument regarding psychological health I draw upon, and extend, P.F. Strawson's seminal essay ‘Freedom and Resentment’. Also in this regard, I extend Wittgenstein's argument against the possibility of a private language to social behavior generally.
AB - I aim to capture the intuition that the moral person is, in virtue of being such, favored over the immoral person to lead a meaningful life. I argue that the reason for this is that the moral person is open to affirmation from others in a way that the immoral person is not. Central to the argument is the idea of psychological health. Being affirmed by others is a fundamental aspect of being psychologically healthy. Thus, I say that being moral and being psychologically healthy dovetail with respect to leading a meaningful life. With this argument regarding psychological health I draw upon, and extend, P.F. Strawson's seminal essay ‘Freedom and Resentment’. Also in this regard, I extend Wittgenstein's argument against the possibility of a private language to social behavior generally.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016659547&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85016659547&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/05568640509485165
DO - 10.1080/05568640509485165
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85016659547
SN - 0556-8641
VL - 34
SP - 405
EP - 427
JO - Philosophical Papers
JF - Philosophical Papers
IS - 3
ER -