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The Divine Good Modern Moral Theory and the Necessity of God by Franklin I. Gamwell foreword by David Tracy |
Franklin Gamwell challenges the assumption that morality is independent of God in this comprehensive critical analysis of the dominant contemporary moral theories.
Defending an approach to philosophical ethics that has been largely unrepresented in twentieth-century moral thought—that a sound ethical system requires belief in a divine reality as the ultimate ground of the good—Gamwell brilliantly contends with Aristotle, Kant, Alasdair McIntyre, and Karl-Otto Apel.
Endorsing the modern rejection of authoritarian appeals and the modern commitment to humanistic reasoning, Gamwell defends transcendental modes of thought against their contemporary critics and reveals the incoherence of three logical alternatives to a theistic ethic: nonteleology, which denies that moral and immoral action are distinguished by their purposes; empirical teleology, which denies that the purpose of moral action is transcendental; and hermeneutical teleology, which affirms a transcendental purpose but denies that it is metaphysical.
Advocating a fully modern view of God that redeems the integrity of religious convictions in modern life, this vital philosophical work develops a concept of God's purpose for human action and human life and suggests the implications of the divine good for a theory of democracy.
FRANKLIN I. GAMWELL is professor of religious ethics at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. He has written extensively on moral and political theory in relation to philosophical theology.
"A superb book. A critique of Gamwell's theistic theory of morality would require a gift of argument equal to the one he displays for our intellectual satisfaction."—Paul Ricoeur"Destined to become a modern classic in moral theory and philosophical theology . . . an indispensable text."—Douglas Sturm
The Divine Good
0-87074-391-0 paper $16.95s
LC 96-5484. 6x9. 238 pp. Bib. Index.
Ethics. Philosophy. Religion/Theology.
Publication Date: September 1996.
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