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The Worth of Persons

The Foundation of Ethics
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In The Worth of Persons, James Franklin delves into the complex interplay between ethics and value theory, exploring how human worth is assessed and understood in various philosophical frameworks. The book challenges conventional ideas and provides a comprehensive analysis of personhood, dignity, and the intrinsic value of individuals. It encourages readers to critically examine societal and moral obligations concerning the recognition of human value.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by the philosophical exploration of the inherent value of individuals. Engaging with deep questions about personhood and ethics, it offers thoughtful insights into how we understand the worth of people in a complex world. Ideal for those interested in philosophy and psychology, it provides a compelling examination of human value and moral respect.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The death of a person is a tragedy while the explosion of a lifeless galaxy is a mere firework. The moral difference is grounded in the nature of humans: humans have intrinsic worth, a worth that makes their fate really matter. This is the worth that the Australian philosopher James Franklin proposes as the foundation of ethics.

In The Worth of Persons, he explains that ethics in the usual sense of right and wrong actions, rights and virtues, and how to live a good life, is founded on something more basic that is not itself about actions, namely the worth of persons. Human moral worth arises from certain properties that distinguish humans from the rest of creation (though some animals share a lesser degree of those properties): rationality, consciousness, the ability to act for reasons, emotional structure and love, individuality. This complex package makes humans the "piece of work" of which Hamlet says, "How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty."

In clear prose and deeply informed philosophical argument, The Worth of Persons establishes a foundation for ethics in the equal worth of persons, which makes ethics absolutely objective and immune to relativist attacks because it is based on the metaphysical truth about humans.

The Worth of Persons will appeal to all those who feel that endless debate about ethical dilemmas, rules, and principles fails to connect with what is really important ethically, that is, what makes humans matter.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Worth of Persons by James Franklin is praised for its compelling argument that ethics are deeply rooted in the dignity and intrinsic worth of individuals. It expands the contemporary understanding of human value beyond basic notions of consciousness and choice to include individual uniqueness and emotional ties. The book is noted for its clear engagement with modern ethical theories and is regarded as a refreshing reminder of traditional philosophical insights that highlight the distinct nature of human beings.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781641772785

Publisher: Encounter Books,USA

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 08 December 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Encounter Books,USA

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

James Franklin is the author of The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability Before Pascal; Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia; What Science Knows: And How It Knows It; and An Aristotelian Realist Philosophy of Mathematics. He is honorary professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, where he taught mathematics for nearly forty years and set up the world's first course on professional issues and ethics in mathematics. He is the editor of the Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society. He was awarded the 2005 Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics for work on the parallels between objectivity in mathematics and in ethics.

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