Interplay of Religion and Philosophy in al-Tawḥīdī’s Political Thought and Practical Ethics

Although modern scholars tend to be sceptical of the role of religion in the formation of ethical and political thought in the Būyid period (334/945–440/1048), this article argues that both philosophy and religion, as envisioned by al-Tawḥīdī and his contemporaries, played an integral role in its creation. The analysis shows that modern concepts such as ‘humanism’ and ‘political philosophy,’ as applied to these authors and their texts, are not felicitous to the social and intellectual contexts in which they were produced. Through analysing al-Tawḥīdī’s ethical and political thought, certain modern assumed dichotomies, including scientific enquiry versus religious teaching, theoretical ethics versus practical ethics, and the social versus the personal, are reconsidered. The article argues that a contextual approach to al-Tawḥīdī and his peers should consider the encyclopaedic system of knowledge that shaped their thought and the interdisciplinary nature of their work where religious, philosophical, and literary elements are intertwined. The article highlights al-Tawḥīdī’s political thought, his active role as an intellectual and his attempt to disseminate knowledge based on two main beliefs: the role of knowledge linked to action in social life and reform, and a solid sense of the religious and moral responsibility of the scholar to offer advice to the leaders of the community. The concepts that he uses, such as maḥabba (love) and ṣadāqa (friendship) with its four foundational components, namely the soul (nafs), intellect (ʿaql), nature (ṭabīʿa), and morals (khulq), addressed social and political challenges in Būyid society and produced alternative moral and intellectual responses to sectarianism, social disintegration and the decline in morality, which were characteristic of the Būyid era. Keywords: Ethical political thought, Būyid, Humanism, Political philosophy, ʿIlm (Knowledge), ʿAmal (action), Ṣadāqa (friendship), al-Tawḥīdī, Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ

Aims, Abstracts, and Why ‘Beyond Duty’?

Since the publication of my last book, Virtue, Rules, and Justice: Kantian Aspirations (OUP, 2012), I have continued to write essays and reviews on fundamental issues in Kantian moral theory as well as practical ethics, but in this recent work I focus on different problems and develop new themes in these areas. For example, I explain some fundamental Kantian concepts, such as autonomy and dignity, and also address potentially influential objections from Rüdiger Bittner and Michael Rosen. Clarifying and revising earlier work, I articulate an understanding of ...

Beyond Duty

This is a collection of essays on Kantian moral theory and practical ethics with the aim of developing Kantian ethics and making it accessible and relevant to contemporary problems. With a new emphasis on ideals beyond the strictest requirements of moral duty, the book expands the core aspects of Kantian ethics and offers a broader perspective on familiar moral problems. Some essays explain Kantian concepts, others review work of leading contemporary philosophers, and still others raise challenging ethical questions for more general audiences. Having previously written on finding value in nature, Hill develops an ethical ideal of appreciation of people and their lives, distinguishing this from both respect and beneficence. Hill argues that this has important implications about how we should think about close personal relationships, such as friendships, families, and relationships with people with disabilities. The first part focuses on Kantian moral theory. Topics include the structure of Kant’s argument in the Groundwork, his idea of imperfect duties to oneself, autonomy, and human dignity. Rawls’ constructivism is defended against O’Neill’s objections, and Kantian ethics defended against the charge of utopian thinking. The second part focuses on practical ethics. Topics include the ethics of suicide, philanthropy, conscientious objection, and tragic choices when it seems that every alternative offends against human dignity. An essay on moral education contrasts Kantian and Rawlsian perspectives. Another essay traces the role of self-respect in Rawls’ theory of justice and contrasts a Kantian conception. Two final essays develop and illustrate the ideal of appreciation.

Koni as one of the founders of deontology in Russia

The subject of research is the concept of practical ethics by Anatoly F. Koni who was an outstanding Russian lawyer in the late 19th – beginning of 20th centuries. Particular attention is paid to his ethical research in the article. The interest in this area is not accidental. The principles of professional ethics formulated by Koni have become largely a model for Russian lawyers.The purpose of the article is to identify the stages of the formation of Koni’s ethical theory, its main elements and sources, which made it possible to reconstruct the ideas of the famous lawyer.As the main research methods the authors applied the problem-chronological approach and the systemic approach, considering Koni's ethics as an emerging theory, which turned into a complete concept in the 1920s. The structure of the ethical concept was outlined by Koni in 1919 in the Program "Ethics of Cohabitation".The main results, scope of application. It was revealed that for Koni issues of legal ethics were only part of his colossal work on ethics. He has been developing ethical themes since the 1880s. He formed the foundations of the theory, developed the main types of ethics at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the idea crystallized in the 1920s. In particular, he formulated the types of ethics: public order, financial, literary, public events, medical, conscience, national, personal behavior, etc. After going through three successive stages in the course of the study Koni developed the foundations of practical ethics, which could serve as a model for creating relations in a new society as he assumed. Koni chose ethics as the object of his scientific research. He made great efforts to develop his deontology, which we will not find any analogues of. He contributed to the philosophy and philosophy of law. He summarized all his works on deontology in the work "Ethics of the Cohabitation", which was prepared in 1927, but have never been published.Conclusions. Koni not only collected moments of crisis in contemporary ethical manifestations, analyzed the works of the main deontologists, analyzed in detail the types of ethics (some of which he formulated for the first time in science), but also formed a harmonious practical ethics of human personal behavior. At the same time Koni assumed such a development of a sensitive personality that would be able to take into account the smallest men-tal characteristics of other people and behave tactfully as much as possible. He returned to ethical issues in numerous works over and over again whether he wrote about social ills, about psychology, about expertise. He saw the main causes of deformations in the destruction of ethical principles. "Moral perversions" threatened the very existence of the state. He perceived the fall of Russia in 1917 as a logical completion of the disintegration of ethics. Koni saw a future salvation in the revival of Russia. His ethical ideal was Christian in nature in many ways, although Koni himself almost never connected ethics with religion in his works. Here he acted as a Kantian, as a supporter of the categorical imperative.