The perspective of morality : philosophical foundations of Thomistic virtue ethics /

Rhonheimer (Pontifical Univ. of the Holy Cross in Rome) offers a tour de force of the history of moral philosophy and an intricate, imitable presentation of classical virtue ethics for today. In just under 500 pages, he articulates an authentic Aristotelian-Thomistic synthesis that begins with Aristotle's practical reasoning and arcs toward a full portrayal of St. Thomas Aquinas's cardinal virtues. In this well-formed and informed book, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance come alive in contemporary application. In the process, Rhonheimer accounts for and disagrees with modern era ethical theories instrumentally constrained by conceptions of, e.g., utility, duty, consequences, and discourse. He widely canvases the terrain of moral thinking and converses, relevantly, with more recent philosophers such as Thomas Nagel, John Rawls, Richard Rorty, and Michael Sandel, to name just a few. Thinking and writing from within the Catholic tradition, Rhonheimer offers a notable volume on virtue ethics that repositions ancient philosophical ways of living within current practices of disciplinary philosophy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. D. S. Hendrickson Teachers College Columbia University