Assuming Responsibility: Ecstatic Eudaimonism and the Call to Live Well

According to Jennifer Herdt, we should embrace ecstatic or goodness-prior eudaimonism while rejecting welfare-prior forms of eudaimonism. She argues that grasping the character of ecstatic eudaimonism has major implications, overcoming the common assumption of a sharp break between pagan and Christian eudaimonism and a late medieval or Protestant repudiation of eudaimonism in favor of divine command theory.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Recent decades have seen a resurgence of interest in eudaimonism, which posits that a virtuous life leads to happiness. However, Kant's criticism of eudaimonism, arguing that it is egoistic and distorts the nature of duty or obligation, has persisted. This book by Jennifer Herdt explores these debates, advocating for embracing ecstatic or goodness-prior eudaimonism while rejecting welfare-prior forms.

Herdt argues that understanding the character of ecstatic eudaimonism has significant implications, challenging the common assumption of a sharp divide between pagan and Christian eudaimonism and the late medieval or Protestant rejection of eudaimonism in favor of divine command theory. She emphasizes that agents cannot properly respond to the goods they encounter unless they respond to them as good, rather than merely as a means to promote their own welfare. By responding well, their agency is perfected.

In conversation with vital strands of contemporary moral philosophy, Herdt articulates the distinctive character of obligation as a feature of accountability relations among agents. Assuming Responsibility offers a fresh perspective for theological and philosophical approaches to virtue ethics, moral agency, and the complex relationship between the good and the right.

Weight: 586g
Dimension: 241 x 164 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192849205