Founding Community: A Phenomenological-Ethical Inquiry
Founding Community: A Phenomenological-Ethical Inquiry By H. Peter Steeves Ph.D. (auth.)
1998 | 161 Pages | ISBN: 9401061807 | PDF | 9 MB
1998 | 161 Pages | ISBN: 9401061807 | PDF | 9 MB
Phenomenology, in its traditional encounters with ethics, has commonly aimed at a more descriptive rather than prescriptive goal. The direction of this project, however, is both phenomenological and prescriptive as I attempt to provide a phenomenological foundation for communitarian ethical theory. I argue, following Husserl, that the Ego and the Other arise together in sense and thus we are committed to community in a foundational way. I am always and fundamentally constituted as a member of a community - as a Self among Others - and, given this, there are certain ethical implications. Namely, there is a communal Good of which my good is but a perspective; indeed, it is a perspective on a Good which encompasses the whole of the living world and not just humanity. Consequently, we are foundationally imbedded in a deep community and a deep communitarian ethic.