An examination and defense of the concept of personality, long central to Western moral culture but now increasingly under attack, by a leading European philosopher. Persons takes issue with major contemporary philosophers, especially in the English-speaking world (such as Parfit and Singer), who have contributed to the eclipse of the idea, and traces the debate back to the foundations of modern philosophy in Descartes and Locke. Robert Spaemann offers extended discussions of the sources of the idea in Christian theology and its development in Western philosophy. He also provides a number of pointed discussions of pressing practical questions--for example, our treatment of the severely disabled human and the moral status of intelligent non-human animals. The book covers a great deal of ground before coming to a focused conclusion: all human beings are persons.

Persons: The Difference between `Someone' and `Something' (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics)

O'Donovan, Oliver

Spaemann, Robert

Parenting & Relationships

Oxford University Press

In this modern classic of religious thought, Christian philosopher Robert Spaemann takes the reader on a quest for the fundamental principle of ethics. Writing in a clear style accessible to non-specialists, drawing both on ancient and modern philosophy, from Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas to Kant and Hegel, he discovers the intimate relationship between ethics and ontology - the science of being. "Happiness and Benevolence" is written for theologians as well as philosophers - indeed for anyone who is concerned with the meaning of a 'life well lived', with good and evil and the search for happiness. Rigorous in his thought and wide-ranging in his erudition, Spaemann makes important contributions to the contemporary discussions of altruism, consequentialism and the metaphysical basis of modern science. He succeeds brilliantly in rehabilitating the concepts of nature, natural teleology and natural right (natural law), and in doing so he illuminates modernity itself at the deepest level. The book also contains an important study of Spaemann's "Philosophische Essays" by Arthur Madigan.

Happiness and Benevolence

Politics & Social Sciences

Alberg S.J., Jeremiah

Philosophy

University of Notre Dame Press

Takes the reader on a quest for the fundamental principle of ethics. Drawing both on ancient and modern philosophy, from Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas to Kant and Hegel, this book discovers the intimate relationship between ethics and ontology - the science of being.

Happiness and Benevolence (Academic Paperback)

T&T Clark

In this work, the author takes the reader on a quest for the fundamental principles of ethics. He draws on both ancient and modern philisophy, from Artistotle, Plato and Aquinas to Kant and Hegel to discover the intimate relationship between ethics and ontology - the science of being.

UNKNO

What does it mean to love someone? What does the concept of human dignity mean, and what are its consequences? What marks the end of a person's life? Is personhood more than consciousness? These perplexing questions lurk beneath the surface of everyday life, surfacing only to demand urgent attention in crises. Renowned German philosopher Robert Spaemann addresses these and other foundational enigmas in three eloquent short essays. Speaking wisdom to controversy, he offers carefully considered, novel approaches to key philosophical and theological questions about the nature of human love ("The Paradoxes of Love"), dignity ("Human Dignity and Human Nature"), and death ("Is Brain Death the Death of a Human Person?").

Love and the Dignity of Human Life: On Nature and Natural Law

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

The question of the nature of humanity is one of the most complex of all philosophical and theological inquiries. Where might one look to find a decent answer to this question? Should we turn to an investigation of genetics and DNA for such answers? Should we look to the history of humanity's adaption and evolution? Should we look to humanity's cultural achievements and the form of its social life? In this intriguing and provocative collection of essays, philosopher Robert Spaemann reacts against what he calls "scientistic" anthropology and ventures to take up afresh the quaestio de homine, "the question of man." Spaemann contends that when it comes to the nagging question of what we truly are as human beings, understanding our chemical make-up or evolutionary past simply cannot give us the full picture. Instead, without doing away with the findings of modern evolutionary science, Spaemann offers successive treatments of human nature, human evolution, and human dignity, which paint a full and compelling picture of the meaning of human life. Crucial to any anthropology, he demonstrates, is our future as well as our past. And our relationship to God as well as to our next-door neighbor. All of these themes coalesce in a vital contribution to the question of what it means to be human.

Essays in Anthropology: Variations on a Theme

Cascade Books

Moralische Grundbegriffe.

C.H.Beck

Beten bei Nebel: Hat der Glaube eine Zukunft?

Joas, Hans

Herder Verlag GmbH

Glück und Wohlwollen: Versuch über Ethik (German Edition)

Klett-Cotta

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Books by Spaemann, Robert