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Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right
by
Harry G. Frankfurt begins his inquiry by asking, "What is it about human beings that makes it possible for us to take ourselves seriously?" Based on The Tanner Lectures in Moral Philosophy, Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right delves into this provocative and original question.
The author maintains that taking ourselves seriously presupposes an inward-directed, r ...more
The author maintains that taking ourselves seriously presupposes an inward-directed, r ...more
Paperback, 136 pages
Published
September 18th 2006
by Stanford University Press
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Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right is composed of a series of lectures by Harry G. Frankfurt, given at Stanford University and commented by a panel of scholars (Christine Korsgaard, M. Bratman, and Meier Dan-Cohen). Frankfurt's thesis is that love, being volitional, can serve as both a unifying principle in the personality and as moral guidance. I found myself drawn to his approach because of his definition of and application of love as a formative, guiding principle in life. Even t
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After quite a few volumes of Frankfurt's brain droppings I started to see him as a joke. So this comes at a good time. He takes himself seriously, and, predictably, fails.
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"Love is paradigmatically personal" is a quote that I will not forget in a hurry. Frankfurt clearly articulates his position on human nature and the nature of human rationality, arguing that the most fundamental of all our dispositions should be the confidence in the limitations and promise of our own will, of love and then on the edifice of practical rationality that the authority of love brings about.
Must read. ...more
Must read. ...more

"Reason and Love"
Harry G. Frankfurt is professor emeritus at Princeton University. This book "Taking Ourselves Seriously & Getting it Right" includes the Tanner Lectures that he gave in 2004 at Standford University, and a series of comments written by other distinguished philosophers on Frankfurt's lectures. In these two lectures, Frankfurt explores the roles of two motivating forces in our lives: reason and love. ...more
Harry G. Frankfurt is professor emeritus at Princeton University. This book "Taking Ourselves Seriously & Getting it Right" includes the Tanner Lectures that he gave in 2004 at Standford University, and a series of comments written by other distinguished philosophers on Frankfurt's lectures. In these two lectures, Frankfurt explores the roles of two motivating forces in our lives: reason and love. ...more

This guy is self-help to non-philosophy major humanities academics who wish they'd studied philosophy. Regardless, I am enjoying the arguments, and respondent's counter arguments, in back regarding the centrality of specific notions of care / love / reason in the construction of what might be deemed necessary acts of volition.
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Jun 29, 2008
G.
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Everyone.
Recommended to G. by:
NY Times Magazine
One thing I appreciated about this book was the straightforward explanation of the importance of caring. And love. Coming from Ivy League faculty it's refreshing. I've since read most of his works and return to this one most often.
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Harry Gordon Frankfurt, Ph.D. (Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 1954; M.A., Johns Hopkins, 1953; B.A., Johns Hopkins, 1949), is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University. He previously served as chair of the philosophy department at Yale University, 1978–1987, where he was also a lecturer in the School of Law, 1981–89. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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