Susan Wolf

Most people, including philosophers, tend to classify human motives as falling into one of two categories: the egoistic or the altruistic, the self-interested or the moral. According to Susan Wolf, however, much of what motivates us does not comfortably fit into this scheme. Often we act neither for our own sake nor out of duty or an impersonal concern for the world. Rather, we act out of love for objects that we rightly perceive as worthy of love--and it is these actions that give meaning to our lives. Wolf makes a compelling case that, along with happiness and morality, this kind of meaningfulness constitutes a distinctive dimension of a good life. Written in a lively and engaging style, and full of provocative examples, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters is a profound and original reflection on a subject of permanent human concern.

Meaning in Life and Why It Matters

For over thirty years Susan Wolf has been writing about moral and nonmoral values and the relation between them. This volume collects Wolf's most important essays on the topics of morality, love, and meaning, ranging from her classic essay "Moral Saints" to her most recent "The Importance of Love." Wolf's essays warn us against the common tendency to classify values in terms of a dichotomy that contrasts the personal, self-interested, or egoistic with the impersonal, altruistic or moral. On Wolf's view, this tendency ignores or distorts the significance of such values as love, beauty, and truth, and neglects the importance of meaningfulness as a dimension of the good life. These essays show us how a self-conscious recognition of the variety of values leads to new understandings of the point, the content, and the limits of morality and to new ways of thinking about happiness and well-being.

Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love

The Variety of Values

Christopher Grau

A unique and interdisciplinary collection in which scholars from Philosophy join those from Film Studies, English, and Comparative Literature to explore the nature and limits of love through in-depth reflection on particular works of literature and film.

Philosophy, Film, and Fiction

Understanding Love

Neil Stanley

"Written with real clarity by authors teaching and researching in the field, Wolf and Stanley on Environmental Law offers an excellent starting point for both law and non-law students encountering this diverse and rapidly developing subject for the first time. The focus of the book is on the regulation and control of pollution and includes chapters on environmental permitting, waste management, air and water pollution and contaminated land. The book also includes the administration and enforcement of environmental law, EU environmental law, the environmental torts and the private regulation of environmental law. The book is supported by a range of learning features designed to help students: Consolidate your learning: Chapter learning objectives and detailed summaries clarify and highlight key points Understand how the law works in practice: 'Law in Action' features demonstrate the application of pollution control law Plan your research: Detailed end of chapter further reading sections outline articles, books and online resources that provide next steps for your research This sixth edition has been updated and revised to take into account recent developments in the subject, including coverage of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010; developments in the Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy documents; updates relating to the defence of statutory authority in the tort of private nuisance; and current issue relating to compliance with the Aarhus Convention Suitable for students of environmental law and the wider environmental studies, Wolf and Stanley on Environmental Law is a valuable guide to this wide-ranging subject"--

Susan Wolf

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