Morals and Politics - by Vittorio Hösle (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first English Translation of Hösle's Moral und Politik-- an outline of a political ethics for the twenty-first century.

Book Synopsis

When Moral und Politik was first published in Germany it provoked heated debate both in and out of the classroom. It even prompted Vittorio Hösle's critics to publish a collection of essays that responded to his provocative arguments. Available for the first time in an English translation, Morals and Politics, a tour-de-force, is certain to once again cause considerable discussion.

In this ambitious work Hösle attempts no less than an outline of a political ethics for the twenty-first century. He raises the question of the relationship between morals and politics but proposes a relatively complex answer to it. This answer involves a search for a synthesis between the classical, ancient European conviction that political philosophy must be based on ethics and the more modern notion that ethical arguments themselves have a political function. Hösle's goal is to create a concrete political ethics for the situation in which humanity finds itself today.

This book is divided into three parts. In the first, Hösle defines the problem through a comprehensive survey of political thought. In the second, he addresses the character of human nature, of power, and of the state and its history. Finally, he deals with the philosophy of law as well as with questions concerning the right of resistance and just war theory.

Sweeping in its scope and forceful in its conclusions, Morals and Politics will reshape the way many think about politics and political philosophy.

Review Quotes

"Hösle lays out on a massive scale what it means to be human. In deeply insightful chapters the breadth and interconnectedness of the multiple (and mutually implicating) dimensions of human life are unfolded. The author blends together considerations of economics, religion, culture, philosophy, the law, the arts, domestic and foreign policy, but always doing justice to their different origins, purposes, nature, methods and scope. This is an intriguing and learned work, on a huge scale. . . . In places this weighty tome reminded the reviewer of the intellectual challenge posed by reading Lonergan's Insight or Blondel's L'Action. . . . The author defends cogently his conviction that political philosophy must be based on ethics, while being aware that ethical arguments themselves have a political function." --The Heythrop Journal

"This book is impressive for its detail and sweep. Various sections of the book will be useful for scholars in political science, political philosophy, and analytic sociology. Recommended." --Choice

About the Author

Vittorio Hösle is Paul G. Kimball Chair of Arts and Letters in the Department of German Languages & Literatures, concurrent professor of philosophy, and concurrent professor of government and international studies at the University of Notre Dame.