What is true Christian morality? How does God want us to live our lives? Why does God care how we live our lives and why should I care about God's law? Is God real and is His law universal and objective? In this clear guide to understanding Christian morality, James Boardman explains the importance of virtue and ethics. With a Thomistic and Aristotelian basis, he guides the reader through a journey in morality. By examining the sin of Adam and Eve, vices and virtues, the effects of the Sacraments, the true definition of grace, and much more, the reader will develop an understanding of and a deep appreciation for Christian morality.

Ancient ethical theories, based on the notions of virtue and happiness, have struck many as an attractive alternative to modern theories. But we cannot find out whether this is true until we understand ancient ethics--and to do this we need to examine the basic structure of ancient ethical theory, not just the details of one or two theories. In this book, Annas brings together the results of a wide-ranging study of ancient ethical philosophy and presents it in a way that is easily accessible to anyone with an interest in ancient or modern ethics. She examines the fundamental notions of happiness and virtue, the role of nature in ethical justification and the relation between concern for self and concern for others. Her careful examination of the ancient debates and arguments shows that many widespread assumptions about ancient ethics are quite mistaken. Ancient ethical theories are not egoistic, and do not depend for their acceptance on metaphysical theories of a teleological kind. Most centrally, they are recognizably theories of morality, and the ancient disputes about the place of virtue in happiness can be seen as akin to modern disputes about the demands of morality.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"A Sheed & Ward book." Includes bibliographical references and index. Finding a path for life : the quest for goodness and happiness -- Not going it alone : friendship and community in the Christian moral life -- Facing shipwreck and bandits : virtues and the quest for happiness -- Every person's truth : made in the image of God, called to do the work of God -- Freedom : exploring a dangerous topic -- False steps on the path to happiness : losing our way and finding it back -- Finding a story worth handing on : narrative and the moral life -- Doing what the good requires : conscience and prudence in the moral life -- The gift that makes all gifts possible : learning the language of love -- Reimagining the world : why the happiness of one demands justice for all.

This book offers a novel and comprehensive interpretation of Descartes’s moral philosophy. In contrast to other influential interpretations, the book argues that the central tenet of his ethical thought is that each person ought to live in the way that is most conducive to their degree of overall perfection. While Descartes’s ethical thought has attracted only a very modest amount of attention among scholars, this book demonstrates that it constitutes an important and integral component of his philosophical project as a whole. It argues that Descartes’s ethics constitutes a form of moral perfectionism. In the Cartesian picture, we satisfy this requirement of perfection by using our free will well in all our conduct, something which is also necessary for obtaining happiness for ourselves. To be guaranteed happiness, however, we need to acquire the virtue of generosity, which, besides a habit of using one’s free will well, entails a habit of being attentive in one’s thought to various truths about oneself and about the world we live in. Descartes offers an interesting attempt to make living well depend entirely on ourselves and not on fate or fortune. He also leaves room for the presence of passions within such a life and for acknowledging that even fully virtuous persons’ lives may differ in their degrees of overall perfection. Descartes’s Moral Perfectionism will appeal to scholars and graduate students working on Descartes, the history of early modern philosophy, and the history of ethics.

The book seeks to answer the following main questions: What is meant by happiness? What are the sources of happiness? What is meant by the well-being of man? What is the end in human life? When can we say that a man is successful in life? How can he be happy and successful? It is argued that happiness is not pleasure; it does not come through high income and consumption; beyond certain levels income and consumption cause dissatisfaction, unhappiness and alienation. The book upholds the Aristotelian view that happiness means living well – living a life of excellence. It discusses how moral judgment and habituation help the development of good life. It analyses paths of spiritual liberation, the highest state of human happiness. It also argues for a liberal state where people enjoy different negative and positive freedoms making possible flourishing of human diversities