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Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right

Harry G. Frankfurt,

Debra Satz (Editor),

Christine M. Korsgaard (Noted by)

3.76 · Rating details · 63 ratings · 7 reviews

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 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, reflexive oversight that enables us to focus our attention directly upon ourselves, and "[it] means that we are not prepared to accept ourselves just as we come. We want our thoughts, our feelings, our choices, and our behavior to make sense. We are not satisfied to think that our ideas are formed haphazardly, or that our actions are driven by transient and opaque impulses or by mindless decisions. We need to direct ourselves—or at any rate to believe that we are directing ourselves—in thoughtful conformity to stable and appropriate norms. We want to get things right."

The essays delineate two features that have a critical role to play in this: our rationality, and our ability to love. Frankfurt incisively explores the roles of reason and of love in our active lives, and considers the relation between these two motivating forces of our actions. The argument is that the authority of practical reason is less fundamental than the authority of love. Love, as the author defines it, is a volitional matter, that is, it consists in what we are actually committed to caring about. Frankfurt adds that "The object of love can be almost anything—a life, a quality of experience, a person, a group, a moral ideal, a nonmoral ideal, a tradition, whatever." However, these objects and ideals are difficult to comprehend and often in conflict with each other. Moral principles play an important supporting role in this process as they help us develop and elucidate a vision that inspires our love.

The first section of the book consists of the two lectures, which are entitled "Taking Ourselves Seriously" and "Getting It Right." The second section consists of comments in response by Christine M. Korsgaard, Michael E. Bratman, and Meir Dan-Cohen. The book includes a preface by Debra Satz.

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Paperback, 136 pages

Published September 18th 2006 by Stanford University Press

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Jun 08, 2013 Johnny rated it really liked it

Shelves: ethics, philosophy

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 ...more

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Feb 18, 2020 Ietrio rated it did not like it

Shelves: junk

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. ...more

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Dec 22, 2020 Ayush Mukherjee rated it it was amazing

"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

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Jun 09, 2016 Ari rated it really liked it

"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

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Apr 23, 2008 Rachel rated it liked it

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. ...more

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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. ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Josh Paul rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy

Taking Ourselves Seriously is a very good essay, much better than his better known On Bullshit (which is enjoyably, but not really very important).

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About Harry G. Frankfurt

Harry G. Frankfurt

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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 ...more