Abstract
In this paper I argue that the lack of interest, among analytic moral philosophers, in the contingencies of our moral present, produces an impoverished moral philosophy, unable to address the moral problems and quandaries of ordinary people. What is needed to remedy this is a broadening of the scope of the moral philosopher’s thought to include a rich attention to moral phenomena of the present. One such phenomenon, attended to by sociologists and critical journalists over the past few decades, is the contemporary proliferating genre of psychologically oriented self-help literature. I display a range of sociological responses to self-help in order to point out aspects of morality that are made visible in these discussions, whereas they often remain invisible in standard moral philosophy. The aim is not to suggest a specific methodology for including such material into philosophical discussions, but rather to urge philosophers to reconsider the range of materials they attend to in their work, in order to produce a more lively engagement with and understanding of contemporary morality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For two early studies on reader responses to self-help, conducted among white American middle class readers, see Grodin (1991) and Simonds (1992). Both of these studies significantly complicate the reading of self-help as a handmaid of advanced liberal capitalism. Yet, it can be noted that critical or intellectual public discussions on self-help even today tend to focus on the direct contents of self-help literature, and downplay the complexities of readership.
Hacking, though not a moral philosopher in the ordinary sense, does quite extra ordinary excavations of our moral present in this book on memory and personal identity.
References
Anscombe, E. (1981). Modern moral philosophy. In The collected philosophical papers of G. E. M. Anscombe Vol. 3: Ethics, religion and politics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Baier, A. (1985). Postures of the mind: Essays on mind and morals. London: Methuen.
Diamond, C. (1991). The realistic spirit: Wittgenstein, philosophy and the mind. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Bright sided: How positive thinking is undermining America. New York: Picador.
Floyd, J., & Shieh, S. (2001). Introduction. In Juliet Floyd & Sanford Shieh (Eds.), Futures past: The analytic tradition in twentieth-century philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fotion, N. (2014). Theory vs. anti-theory in ethics: A misconceived conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gibbard, A. (1990). Wise choises, apt feelings: A theory of normative judgment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self identity: Self and society in the late modern age. California: Stanford University Press.
Grodin, D. (1991). The interpreting audience: The therapeutics of self-help book reading. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(4), 404–420.
Hacking, I. (1995). Rewriting the soul: Multiple personality and the sciences of memory (p. 1995). Boston: Harvard University Press.
Hochschild, A. R. (2003). The commersialization of intimate life: Notes from home and work. California: University of Californa Press.
MacIntyre, A. (1985). After virtue: A study in moral theory. London: Duckworth.
Murdoch, I. (1992). Metaphysics as a guide to morals. London: Chatto & Windus.
Murdoch, I. (1997). Existentialists and mystics: Writings in philosophy and literature. London: Chatto & Windus.
Nussbaum, M. (1990). Love’s knowledge: Essays on philosophy and literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rimke, H. M. (2000). Governing citizens through self-help literature. Cultural Studies, 14(1), 61–78.
Rose, N. (1996). Inventing our selves: Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Salerno, S. (2005). SHAM—Self-help and actualisation movement: How the gurus of the self-help movement make us helpless. London, Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Shafer-Landau, R. (2003). Moral realism: A defence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Simonds, W. (1992). Women and self-help culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, B. (1985). Ethics and the limits of philosophy. London: Fontana Paperbacks.
Winch, P. (1972). Ethics and action. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
Winch, P. (1987). Trying to make sense. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hämäläinen, N. Self-Help, Moral Philosophy, and the Moral Present. Hum Stud 39, 289–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-015-9371-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-015-9371-3