Book contents
- Kierkegaard on Self, Ethics, and Religion
- Kierkegaard on Self, Ethics, and Religion
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Self, Despair, and Wholeheartedness
- Part II Morality, Prudence, and Religion
- Chapter 4 The Critique of Eudaimonism: Virtue Ethics, Kantianism, and Beyond
- Chapter 5 Noneudaimonistic Ethics and Religion: Happiness and Salvation
- Chapter 6 The “Teleological Suspension of the Ethical” and Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
- Chapter 7 Moralized Religion: The Identity of the Good and the Divine
- Part III “Subjectivity, Inwardness, Is Truth”
- Part IV Faith and Reason
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - The Critique of Eudaimonism: Virtue Ethics, Kantianism, and Beyond
from Part II - Morality, Prudence, and Religion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2022
- Kierkegaard on Self, Ethics, and Religion
- Kierkegaard on Self, Ethics, and Religion
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Self, Despair, and Wholeheartedness
- Part II Morality, Prudence, and Religion
- Chapter 4 The Critique of Eudaimonism: Virtue Ethics, Kantianism, and Beyond
- Chapter 5 Noneudaimonistic Ethics and Religion: Happiness and Salvation
- Chapter 6 The “Teleological Suspension of the Ethical” and Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
- Chapter 7 Moralized Religion: The Identity of the Good and the Divine
- Part III “Subjectivity, Inwardness, Is Truth”
- Part IV Faith and Reason
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 4 discusses Kierkegaard’s elusive critique of ethical eudaimonism. It is shown that Kierkegaard develops and radicalizes an influential Kantian critique of eudaimonism, according to which ethical eudaimonism entails egoism and instrumentalism concerning virtue that make morality second to self-interest. In the late twentieth century, discussions of this familiar critique have been renewed by the reemergence of virtue ethics and eudaimonism. Still, many share the worry that eudaimonism involves an objectionable egoism and instrumentalism concerning virtue. Although Kierkegaard’s critique of eudaimonism is controversial and more successful against hedonistic eudaimonism (Epicureanism) than Stoicism or Aristotelianism, it still seems largely defensible. At least, reconstructions indicate that genuine (noninstrumental) other-regard is incompatible with eudaimonism’s focus on personal happiness (eudaimonia) as the highest good. Kierkegaard thus seems to succeed in weakening ethical eudaimonism and in developing a noneudaimonistic view that is broadly Kantian.
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- Information
- Kierkegaard on Self, Ethics, and ReligionPurity or Despair, pp. 75 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022