Britain, Europe and the United States are decadent states in a special sense of that word. They have traded in an old morality that served them well throughout their civilisation for a new, experimental quasi-morality. The old morality had well known virtues: courage, love, fairness, honesty and prudence. The new ‘virtues’ are equality, anti-discrimination, environmental concern, self-affirmation, a ‘caring’ attitude, and a critical mindset.
In this collection twelve commentators survey the decline of the old morality and examine the rise of the new.
Contents:
Introduction and summary by Digby Anderson
Prudence: the orchestration of the virtues by Kenneth Minogue
Courage: a classical virtue by David WomersleyLove: a christian virtue by Digby Anderson
Thrift: a victorian virtue with Calvinist origins by Theodore Malloch
Disinterest: an administrative virtue by Alexander Evans
The family virtues: authority and obedience; stewardship and succession by Simon Green
Distributive justice or social justice by Nicholas Capaldi
The environmental virtues by Christie Davies
The caring virtues by Peter Mullen
Help-seeking and the therapeutic virtues by Frank Furedi
The business virtues: transparency and accountability by Elaine Sternberg
The intellectual virtues: being critical by Roger Kimball
2005, Published by the Social Affairs Unit, ISBN 1 904863 04 3, 240pp, HB
See Also:
The Dictionary of Dangerous Words by Digby Anderson
