1st Edition

Self-Interest An Anthology of Philosophical Perspectives from Antiquity to the Present

Edited By Kelly Rogers Copyright 1998
    302 Pages
    by Routledge

    302 Pages
    by Routledge

    Self-Interest discusses the reconciliation of inevitable self-concern with its manifest potential for harm. This anthology brings together the efforts of twenty three renown philosophers to address the matter of how to bring about such a reconciliation. The drive for self-preservation, as observed by Aquinas, is the first law of nature. With this self-love, however, comes the threat of "the excessive love of self". Self-Interest brings into discussion the reconciliation of necessary self-concern with its manifest potential for harm.
    This anthology brings together the work of twenty-three important philosophers to address the question of how to bring about such a reconciliation. Contributors include: Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Aquinas,Hobbes, Nicole, Mandeville, Butler, Hutchenson, Hume, Smith, Kant, Bentham, Mill, James, Nietzsche, Dewey, Rand, and Gauthier.

    General Introduction; I. CLASSICAL ERA: Introduction, 1. Plato (427-347 B.C.),2. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.),3. Epicureanism,4. Stoicism; II. MEDIEVAL ERA: Introduction,5. Augustine of Hippo (354-430),6. Thomas of Aquinas (c.1224-1274); III: EARLY MODERN ERA: Introduction,7. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679),8. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677),9. Bernard Mandeville (c. 1670-1733), 10. Joseph Butler (1692-1752),11. Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746),12. David Hume (1711-1776),13. Adam Smith (1723-1790), 14. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),IV: NINETEENTH CENTURY: Introduction, 15. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832),16. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873),17. Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900),18. William James (1842-1910),19. Friedrich Nietzche (1844-1900),V. TWENTIETH CENTURY: Introduction,20. John Dewey (1859-1952),21. Ayn Rand (1905-1982),22. David Gauthier (b. 1932).

    Biography

    Kelly Rogers

    "This book fills a previously unoccupied nich: it is an anthology of philosophical writings on self-interest... This text is a refreshing antidote to one current emphasis on the theory of games and rational choice." -- Ruth Sample, Philosophy in Reviewe