The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce

More documents

Recommendations

Info

appeal 59material and ethical improvement since 1800 or 1900. Many still wax indignantat the very suggestion that our bourgeois life could be on balance ethicallygood. And the lukewarm friends of capitalism, who as I say are legion,are at least made uneasy by the notion of “bourgeois virtues.” I am gettingweary of this underreasoned disdain for bourgeois life. So should you.I ask you at the outset, therefore, to forebear, and not to imagine thatthere is some quick, easy way that I could change your mind on these matters.I ask you not to think that I am merely bloviating or dissembling in notproviding mind-transforming arguments in a jiffy. And I ask you for yourown good not to become too quickly indignant when you encounter anargument that you think on its face to be implausible or incomplete. Pleaseconsider. Please suppose that I am of good will. Please, if only to improveyour own case against capitalism, be at the trouble to understand what ishere said.Most people have opinions about the matter, and hold their opinionsemphatically, often without having much considered. Perhaps it has to dowith the age at which we equip ourselves with a politics, the romantic age ofearly adulthood. Like gender, settled in one’s personal theories at age two orso, most people don’t trouble themselves to rethink later their politicalopinions acquired at age twenty or so. Saul Bellow said of his early Trotskyism,“Like everyone else who invests in doctrines at a young age, I couldn’tgive them up.” 3 People come as young people to hate the bourgeoisie or tolove capitalism or to detest free markets or to believe passionately in thewelfare and regulatory state. It becomes part of a cherished identity, a faith.I appeal to you to rethink your faith.The case builds. Consider it possible that later chapters, or even later volumes,may extend the apology to advertising, say, by arguments not whollyintemperate—or to explanations of how capitalism has worked well for thepoor, by arguments not wholly unjust. Think it possible you may be mistaken.In the end even the full case may not persuade you. Go then in peace. Buthere at the outset I propose a bourgeois deal. I will try not to say unfair,untrue, partisan, idiotic, Fox-News, self-refuting, factually and ethicallyabsurd things by the standards of a woman not wholly ignorant and notwholly malevolent. I will try to think it possible that even I myself may bemistaken. I will preach to you, the unbelievers outside the church, and notsolely to my pro-capitalist friends singing now so beautifully in the choir. In
60 appealexchange I ask you—you of the capitalist-doubting clerisy of the left, andeven you of the capitalism-corrupted clerisy of the right—to exercise thevirtue of patience.In the main square of Gouda in the Netherlands stands its old city hall,built in 1448. Over the entrance is inscribed a Latin motto, a commonplacein the Middle Ages, if not always practiced then or now: Audite et alterampartem, “Listen even to the other side.”It was sound advice for the burghers of Gouda.
Page 2:
the bourgeois virtues
Page 5 and 6:
Deirdre N. McCloskey is distinguish
Page 8 and 9:
contentsPreface xiiiAcknowledgments
Page 10 and 11:
Part 3THE PAGAN AND MASCULINE VIRTU
Page 12 and 13:
35 Other Lists 379Many other lists
Page 14 and 15:
prefaceWhile on an airplane reading
Page 16 and 17:
acknowledgmentsJoseph Epstein, the
Page 18 and 19:
acknowledgmentsxviiAnthony Waterman
Page 20 and 21:
Apologya brief for the bourgeois vi
Page 22 and 23:
a brief for the bourgeois virtues 3
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29: a brief for the bourgeois virtues 9
Page 59 and 60: 40 apologyEurope the frontiers were
Page 61 and 62: 42 apologyterritories give both to
Page 63 and 64: 44 apologythat that other person do
Page 65 and 66: 46 apologyoverrepresented, because
Page 67 and 68: 48 apologywith Ridley the bourgeois
Page 69 and 70: 50 apologyconsist in good measure o
Page 71 and 72: 52 apologybombers. Europe recovered
Page 74 and 75: AppealSocrates: I count being refut
Page 76 and 77: appeal 57consumption. Feminist econ
Page 80: Commerce penetrates the secret plac
Page 83 and 84: 64 chapter 1which is to say the pat
Page 85 and 86: 66 chapter 1effect of Machiavelli,
Page 87 and 88: 2the very word “bourgeois”Bourg
Page 89 and 90: 70 chapter 2suppose be active witho
Page 91 and 92: 72 chapter 2have until the twentiet
Page 93 and 94: 74 chapter 2they often came. Such l
Page 95 and 96: 76 chapter 2make that work honorabl
Page 97 and 98: 78 chapter 2Theodore Schultz, the i
Page 99 and 100: 80 chapter 3Embarrassment of Riches
Page 101 and 102: 82 chapter 3in eighteenth-century w
Page 103 and 104: 84 chapter 3means “sea land” cl
Page 105 and 106: 86 chapter 3upper-entrepreneurial c
Page 108: part oneThe Christianand Feminine V
Page 111 and 112: 92 chapter 4Noddings, Mary Midgley,
Page 113 and 114: 94 chapter 4children or ancestors o
Page 115 and 116: 96 chapter 4In the West before Chri
Page 117 and 118: 98 chapter 4Wordsworth did so freel
Page 119 and 120: 5love and the transcendentLove reac
Page 121 and 122: 102 chapter 5A Pharisee is someone
Page 123 and 124: 104 chapter 5God at the beginning.
Page 125 and 126: 106 chapter 5applying to the level
Page 127 and 128: 6sweet love vs. interestSo-called S
Page 129 and 130:
110 chapter 6mating: each person, i
Page 131 and 132:
112 chapter 6he gives up. But that
Page 133 and 134:
114 chapter 6thing) “is loved for
Page 135 and 136:
116 chapter 6Lewis offers a ladder
Page 137 and 138:
118 chapter 7Prudence Only calculat
Page 139 and 140:
120 chapter 7This is to miss the po
Page 141 and 142:
122 chapter 7distinctions result fr
Page 143 and 144:
124 chapter 7He improves upon a fam
Page 145 and 146:
8love and the bourgeoisieAt the ris
Page 147 and 148:
128 chapter 8harder. It is as thoug
Page 149 and 150:
130 chapter 8need to explain why yo
Page 151 and 152:
132 chapter 8traditional, and gemei
Page 153 and 154:
134 chapter 8The English aristocrac
Page 155 and 156:
136 chapter 8“love” is itself d
Page 157 and 158:
138 chapter 8acknowledgment of soli
Page 159 and 160:
140 chapter 9has access to less den
Page 161 and 162:
142 chapter 9one another, leaving t
Page 163 and 164:
144 chapter 9Putnam’s work by Dor
Page 165 and 166:
146 chapter 9than war. And it’s n
Page 167 and 168:
148 chapter 9that bourgeois and cap
Page 170 and 171:
10faith as identityNihil aliud scio
Page 172 and 173:
faith as identity 153evidence of a
Page 174 and 175:
faith as identity 155Fides was the
Page 176 and 177:
faith as identity 157One can show i
Page 178 and 179:
faith as identity 159from poor econ
Page 180 and 181:
hope and its banishment 161Christia
Page 182 and 183:
hope and its banishment 163in the t
Page 184 and 185:
About it and about; but evermoreCam
Page 186 and 187:
12against the sacredIn their offici
Page 188 and 189:
against the sacred 169seems right.
Page 190 and 191:
possible objects of Hope and Faith,
Page 192 and 193:
against the sacred 173There could b
Page 194 and 195:
against the sacred 175Charles Hutch
Page 196 and 197:
van gogh and the transcendent profa
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
humility and truth 185To put it aca
Page 206 and 207:
humility and truth 187Devil’s num
Page 208 and 209:
humility and truth 189Uriah does no
Page 210 and 211:
humility and truth 191what you have
Page 212 and 213:
humility and truth 193arm of the Me
Page 214 and 215:
15economic theologyThe only ethical
Page 216 and 217:
economic theology 197of course not.
Page 218:
part threeThe Pagan andMasculine Vi
Page 221 and 222:
202 chapter 16meaning “forcefulne
Page 223 and 224:
204 chapter 16end angering the gods
Page 225 and 226:
206 chapter 16next year. He conclud
Page 227 and 228:
208 chapter 16like Odysseus, saving
Page 229 and 230:
210 chapter 16“Armed resistance w
Page 231 and 232:
17anachronistic couragein the bourg
Page 233 and 234:
214 chapter 17carrying fact. To the
Page 235 and 236:
216 chapter 17citizens in the West,
Page 237 and 238:
218 chapter 17The point is that bou
Page 239 and 240:
220 chapter 17Clancy novels about s
Page 241 and 242:
222 chapter 17Such a fiction does o
Page 243 and 244:
224 chapter 18gentleman in the nine
Page 245 and 246:
226 chapter 18director Kurosawa sai
Page 247 and 248:
228 chapter 18which Hammett defined
Page 249 and 250:
230 chapter 18The ageing Roosevelt
Page 251 and 252:
232 chapter 19No one before the lat
Page 253 and 254:
234 chapter 19around 1900 and accel
Page 255 and 256:
236 chapter 19notorious Paragraph 1
Page 257 and 258:
238 chapter 19or Huck Finn trying t
Page 259 and 260:
240 chapter 19Hemingway’s mytholo
Page 261 and 262:
242 chapter 20“We’re going thro
Page 263 and 264:
244 chapter 20(wanting to swing on
Page 265 and 266:
246 chapter 20The Danny Glover char
Page 267 and 268:
248 chapter 20procedures for recall
Page 269 and 270:
250 chapter 20sin is literal hopele
Page 272 and 273:
21prudence is a virtueA person or a
Page 274 and 275:
prudence is a virtue 255women criti
Page 276 and 277:
prudence is a virtue 257He is, Aris
Page 278 and 279:
prudence is a virtue 259part of hum
Page 280 and 281:
prudence is a virtue 261Because ari
Page 282 and 283:
22the monomania of immanuel kantThe
Page 284 and 285:
the monomania of immanuel kant 265
Page 286 and 287:
the monomania of immanuel kant 267T
Page 288 and 289:
the monomania of immanuel kant 269i
Page 290 and 291:
the storied character of virtue 271
Page 292 and 293:
Page 294 and 295:
Page 296 and 297:
Page 298 and 299:
24evil as imbalance, inner and oute
Page 300 and 301:
evil as imbalance, inner and outer
Page 302 and 303:
Page 304 and 305:
Page 306 and 307:
Page 308 and 309:
Page 310 and 311:
the pagan-ethical bourgeois 291At t
Page 312 and 313:
the pagan-ethical bourgeois 293assi
Page 314 and 315:
the pagan-ethical bourgeois 295hono
Page 316 and 317:
the pagan-ethical bourgeois 297the
Page 318 and 319:
the pagan-ethical bourgeois 299alon
Page 320:
part fiveSystematizing the SevenVir
Page 323 and 324:
HOPEFAITH- Martin Luther King -TheT
Page 325 and 326:
306 chapter 26warmth and meaning. T
Page 327 and 328:
308 chapter 26The seven virtues in
Page 329 and 330:
310 chapter 26right-side love, or i
Page 331 and 332:
312 chapter 26mastering above all.
Page 333 and 334:
27a philosophical psychology?If the
Page 335 and 336:
316 chapter 27a genus substituting
Page 337 and 338:
318 chapter 27which Cicero translat
Page 339 and 340:
28ethical strivingI have been claim
Page 341 and 342:
322 chapter 28“not just from his
Page 343 and 344:
324 chapter 28other good human beha
Page 345 and 346:
326 chapter 28We don’t know the d
Page 347 and 348:
328 chapter 28English traveler, who
Page 349 and 350:
330 chapter 28Biff: Well, I borrowe
Page 351 and 352:
29ethical realismThe virtues in the
Page 353 and 354:
334 chapter 29epistemology between
Page 355 and 356:
336 chapter 29We do not know about
Page 357 and 358:
338 chapter 30You can opt for the c
Page 359 and 360:
340 chapter 30scales—that is, pru
Page 361 and 362:
342 chapter 30to church for the soc
Page 363 and 364:
344 chapter 30Akerlof, Harry Frankf
Page 365 and 366:
31character(s)The Dutch economist A
Page 367 and 368:
348 chapter 31its own, sometimes ev
Page 369 and 370:
350 chapter 31reputability, dependa
Page 371 and 372:
32antimonism againAs Stuart Hampshi
Page 373 and 374:
354 chapter 32Kant’s most famous
Page 375 and 376:
356 chapter 32subject to rules that
Page 377 and 378:
358 chapter 32A strange but powerfu
Page 379 and 380:
360 chapter 32Ethical life is like
Page 381 and 382:
362 chapter 33scientist, and secret
Page 383 and 384:
364 chapter 33historically continge
Page 385 and 386:
366 chapter 33But in answering the
Page 387 and 388:
368 chapter 33Some good scholars in
Page 389 and 390:
370 chapter 34Bacon’s text in fac
Page 391 and 392:
372 chapter 34one cruelty what anot
Page 393 and 394:
374 chapter 34not engaged in social
Page 395 and 396:
376 chapter 34pretense, equal pain,
Page 397 and 398:
378 chapter 34but he might as well
Page 399 and 400:
380 chapter 35L. Blum’s Friendshi
Page 401 and 402:
382 chapter 35to see what is bad or
Page 403 and 404:
384 chapter 35you will note, when s
Page 405 and 406:
36eastern and other waysBut after s
Page 407 and 408:
388 chapter 36contemporary with Pla
Page 409 and 410:
390 chapter 36The Japanese are in s
Page 411 and 412:
392 chapter 36a masterless samurai,
Page 413 and 414:
37needing virtuesOr one can take th
Page 415 and 416:
396 chapter 37Since he seemed to be
Page 417 and 418:
398 chapter 37Emotivism, observe ag
Page 419 and 420:
400 chapter 37leaders whose sense o
Page 421 and 422:
402 chapter 37sin. You cannot get m
Page 423 and 424:
404 chapter 37would keep this crush
Page 426 and 427:
38p & s and the capitalist lifePrud
Page 428 and 429:
p & s and the capitalist life 409am
Page 430 and 431:
p & s and the capitalist life 411th
Page 432 and 433:
p & s and the capitalist life 413pr
Page 434 and 435:
p & s and the capitalist life 415am
Page 436 and 437:
sacred reasons 417read high art as
Page 438 and 439:
sacred reasons 419and the conservat
Page 440 and 441:
sacred reasons 421instance from lov
Page 442 and 443:
sacred reasons 423the outskirts of
Page 444 and 445:
not by p alone 425practice her trad
Page 446 and 447:
not by p alone 427have to reach ove
Page 448 and 449:
not by p alone 429line of argument,
Page 450 and 451:
not by p alone 431The key to van St
Page 452 and 453:
41the myth of modern rationalityBut
Page 454 and 455:
the myth of modern rationality 435t
Page 456 and 457:
the myth of modern rationality 437i
Page 458 and 459:
the myth of modern rationality 439o
Page 460 and 461:
the myth of modern rationality 441P
Page 462 and 463:
god’s deal 443which the feeling o
Page 464 and 465:
god’s deal 445edge and frequency
Page 466 and 467:
god’s deal 447humans will accept
Page 468 and 469:
god’s deal 449original sayings of
Page 470 and 471:
43necessary excess?The world is too
Page 472 and 473:
necessary excess? 453productivity a
Page 474 and 475:
necessary excess? 455that “the ec
Page 476 and 477:
necessary excess? 457surprisingly m
Page 478 and 479:
necessary excess? 459and to turn
Page 480 and 481:
44good workBenjamin Hunnicutt argue
Page 482 and 483:
good work 463influences, because th
Page 484 and 485:
good work 465pray, to write, to thi
Page 486 and 487:
good work 467Christianity appears t
Page 488 and 489:
45wage slaveryOn the side of produc
Page 490 and 491:
wage slavery 471anything but dishon
Page 492 and 493:
wage slavery 473Studs Terkel in Wor
Page 494 and 495:
wage slavery 475was much admired by
Page 496 and 497:
I really wish that I could be a lad
Page 498 and 499:
the rich 479before capitalism had g
Page 500 and 501:
the rich 481acquisitiveness and cal
Page 502 and 503:
the rich 483Sam continues: “Take
Page 504 and 505:
the rich 485profit making. 11 He cr
Page 506 and 507:
the rich 487perhaps a high single d
Page 508 and 509:
good barons 489human computers rush
Page 510 and 511:
good barons 491another way, the ent
Page 512 and 513:
good barons 493$3 billion he collec
Page 514 and 515:
good barons 495put forward in the t
Page 516 and 517:
48the anxieties of bourgeois virtue
Page 518 and 519:
the anxieties of bourgeois virtues
Page 520 and 521:
Page 522 and 523:
Page 524 and 525:
Page 526 and 527:
Page 528 and 529:
Postscriptthe unfinished case for t
Page 530 and 531:
the unfinished case for the bourgeo
Page 532 and 533:
the unfinished case for the bourgeo
Page 534 and 535:
notespreface1. Dougherty, Who’s A
Page 536 and 537:
notes to pages 17-27 51738. Kahn-Le
Page 538 and 539:
notes to pages 35-44 51977. Thus ag
Page 540 and 541:
notes to pages 68-80 521chapter 2:
Page 542 and 543:
notes to pages 94-104 52316. Saller
Page 544 and 545:
notes to pages 112-123 52515. Sen,E
Page 546 and 547:
notes to pages 135-145 52724. Sen,
Page 548 and 549:
notes to pages 158-169 52927. Arce
Page 550 and 551:
notes to pages 181-190 53116. Stein
Page 552 and 553:
notes to pages 203-216 53310. Smith
Page 554 and 555:
notes to pages 231-245 535chapter 1
Page 556 and 557:
notes to pages 258-266 53720. Butle
Page 558 and 559:
notes to pages 281-293 5398. Coleri
Page 560 and 561:
notes to pages 314-322 541chapter 2
Page 562 and 563:
notes to pages 334-346 5434. James,
Page 564 and 565:
notes to pages 364-378 5456. As Phi
Page 566 and 567:
notes to pages 391-400 54715. Bened
Page 568 and 569:
notes to pages 412-423 54914. Heilb
Page 570 and 571:
notes to pages 438-453 55111. Medaw
Page 572 and 573:
notes to pages 466-482 55317. Hornb
Page 574:
notes to pages 499-507 5553. Feser,
Page 577 and 578:
558 works citedArendt, Hannah. 1958
Page 579 and 580:
560 works citedBlaug, Marc. 1980. T
Page 581 and 582:
562 works citedCicero, Marcus Tulli
Page 583 and 584:
564 works citedDreiser, Theodore. 1
Page 585 and 586:
566 works citedFrank, Robert. 1988.
Page 587 and 588:
568 works citedGreenblatt, Stephen
Page 589 and 590:
570 works citedHirschman, Albert O.
Page 591 and 592:
572 works citedIvanhoe, Philip J. 2
Page 593 and 594:
574 works citedKropotkin, P. A., Pr
Page 595 and 596:
576 works citedMacIntyre, Alasdair.
Page 597 and 598:
578 works citedMencken,H.L.1922.
Page 599 and 600:
580 works citedOrr, H. Allen. 2003.
Page 601 and 602:
582 works citedRorty, Amélie Oksen
Page 603 and 604:
584 works citedSeneca, Lucius Annae
Page 605 and 606:
586 works citedTodorov, Tzvetan. 20
Page 607 and 608:
588 works citedWilliams, Bernard. 1
Page 609 and 610:
590 indexantibourgeois figures: boh
Page 611 and 612:
592 indexBourgeois Deal: McCloskey
Page 613 and 614:
594 indexcitizen, distinguished fro
Page 615 and 616:
596 indexeconomics of religion, 341
Page 617 and 618:
598 indexFranklin, John Hope: ethic
Page 619 and 620:
600 indexHeckscher, Eli: French mer
Page 621 and 622:
602 indexintelligentsia, intellectu
Page 623 and 624:
604 indexLewis, C. S.: definition o
Page 625 and 626:
606 indexMeester, Johan de: on van
Page 627 and 628:
608 indexP variables: Dario Comi an
Page 629 and 630:
610 indexrealism: in epistemology,
Page 631 and 632:
612 indexSen, Amartya: agency and M
Page 633 and 634:
614 indextheology: apologia, 1, 5;
Page 635:
616 indexwelfare economics: as stuf
show all

The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?