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Towards Justice and Virtue: A Constructive Account of Practical Reasoning
Towards Justice and Virtue challenges the rivalry between those who advocate only abstract, universal principles of justice and those who commend only the particularities of virtuous lives. Onora O'Neill traces this impasse to defects in underlying conceptions of reasoning about action. She proposes and vindicates an alternative, more modest, account of ethical reasoning, a reasoned way of answering the question "who counts?", and constructs a linked account of the principles that are basic for moving toward just institutions and virtuous lives.
- GenresPhilosophyAcademic
Paperback
First published August 28, 1996
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About the author
Onora O'Neill
34 books31 followersOnora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve CH CBE FBA FRS (born 23 August 1941) is a philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
The daughter of Sir Con Douglas Walter O'Neill, she was educated partly in Germany and at St Paul's Girls' School, London before studying philosophy, psychology and physiology at Oxford University. She went on to complete a doctorate at Harvard University, with John Rawls as supervisor. During the 1970s she taught at Barnard College, the women's college in Columbia University, New York City. In 1977 she returned to Britain and took up a post at the University of Essex; she was Professor of Philosophy there when she became Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge in 1992.
She is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a former President of the British Academy 1988–1989 and chaired the Nuffield Foundation 1998–2010. In 2003, she was the founding President of the British Philosophical Association (BPA). In 2013 she held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. Until October 2006, she was the Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and she currently chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
(from Wikipedia)
The daughter of Sir Con Douglas Walter O'Neill, she was educated partly in Germany and at St Paul's Girls' School, London before studying philosophy, psychology and physiology at Oxford University. She went on to complete a doctorate at Harvard University, with John Rawls as supervisor. During the 1970s she taught at Barnard College, the women's college in Columbia University, New York City. In 1977 she returned to Britain and took up a post at the University of Essex; she was Professor of Philosophy there when she became Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge in 1992.
She is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a former President of the British Academy 1988–1989 and chaired the Nuffield Foundation 1998–2010. In 2003, she was the founding President of the British Philosophical Association (BPA). In 2013 she held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. Until October 2006, she was the Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and she currently chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 16, 2012
A great read that I could warmly recommend. O'Neill presents her constructivist account of practical reasoning and in so doing criticises, on the one hand, "thin" liberal universalists, and, on the other hand, particularists that too quickly dismiss principled reasoning. O'Neill's moral constructivism does not assume any metaphysically contentious claims or idealisations, but gives a mundane basis for still rather far-reaching requirements of justice and virtue.
February 1, 2010
Onore O'Neill offers a fascinating explanation for the path to justice and virtue and how one arrives on the path to begin with. Although I cannot say I agree with each of her conclusions, it is a powerful attempt at explaining and reigning in human nature.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews