Vulnerability, dependence, animality -- Humans as contrasted with, humans as included in the class of animals -- The intelligence of dolphins -- Can animals without language have beliefs? -- How impoverished is the world of the nonhuman animal? -- Reasons for action -- Vulnerability, flourishing, goods, and 'good' -- How do we become independent practical reasoners? How do the virtues make this possible? -- Social relationships, practical reasoning, common goods, and individual goods -- The virtues of acknowledged dependence -- The political and social structures of the common good -- Proxies, friends, truthfulness -- Moral commitment and rational enquiry.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"The overall argument of this book presupposes the truth of certain contentious philosophical theses: that human identity is primarily an animal identity, that understanding the resemblance between human beings and some other types of intelligent animals is a necessary prerequisite for also understanding how they differ, that human flourishing requires the exercise of certain types of virtue, and that it is only within a certain type of local political community that those virtues can be developed and sustained. The latter part of this book is directed to the discussion and defence of these theses."--Jacket.