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Viable Values

On this page: Summary  Contents  Related Links  Reviews, Criticism and Analysis

Summary

Full Title: Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality Author(s): Tara Smith Year Published: 2000 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Publication Type: Academic ISBN-10: 0-8476-9760-6 (hardcover), 0-8476-9761-4 (paperback) ISBN-13: 978-0-8476-9760-1 (hardcover), 978-0-8476-9761-8 (paperback) Description: Smith defends the Objectivist view of ethics, offering an "elaboration and analysis of Rand's view."

Contents

• Acknowledgements

1. Introduction
2. Why Be Moral?
   • A Misconceived Question?
   • Historical Answers
   • Intuitionism
     • The Case for Intuitionism
     • Critique
   • Contractarianism
     • The Case for Contractarianism
     • Critique
       • Dubious Conceptions of Morality and Interest
   • Rationalism
     • The Case for Rationalism
     • Critique
       • Why Be Rational?
       • What Is Rational Action?
       • Justification of Action
       • The Rationality of Ends
       • Rationalism's Collapse
3. Intrinsic Value: A False Foundation
   • What Is Intrinsic Value?
   • The Argument
   • The Evidence for Intrinsic Value
   • The Regress Argument
   • Artificial Alternatives
4. Morality's Roots in Life
   • The Argument for Morality's Basis in Life
     • Life Makes the Concept of Value Possible
       • Imagining Immortality
     • Life Makes the Concept of Value Necessary
     • Life as the Goal and the Standard of Value
     • Value as the Basis for Normative Ethics
   • Value's Objectivity
     • Value Is Relational
       • Optional Values
     • Value Is Based in Facts
   • Objections and Clarifications
     • Is Life a Value, or Is Life the Source of Value?
     • How Does a Person Choose Life?
     • Is the Choice of Life Justified
     • Does the Choice to Live Undermine the Objectivity of Value
     • Living without a Life-Based Code
5. Morality's Reward: Flourishing
   • What Flourishing Is
   • Why Flourishing Is the Proper End of Value
     • Living Is Flourishing
       • The Quality-Quantity Distinction
       • The Needs-Wants Distinction
     • Not by Bread Alone
       • Suicide
   • Flourishing Is Objective
6. Principled Egoism: The Only Way to Live
   • The Necessity of Egoism
     • Prudence
   • What Self-Interest Is and Demands
     • Self-Interest's Spiritual Dimension
     • Self-Interest's Demands
       • The Egoist Needs Principles
       • The Status of Ill-Begotten Gains
   • Implications for the Relationship between Individuals' Interests
     • Interests
     • Pursuit of Self-Interest Is Not a Zero-Sum Game
       • Value Is Contextual
       • Value Is Created
     • Rational Interests Do Not Conflict

• Selected List of Works Consulted
• Index
• About the Author

Related Links

• Homepage of Tara Smith

Reviews, Criticism and Analysis

The following perspectives on this book are available online:

• By Lester H. Hunt for The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies
• By Irfan Khawaja to the Ayn Rand Society
• By Stephen Parrish at the Secular Web
• By Aeon J. Skoble for The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty
• By Will Wilkinson for Navigator

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