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The Ethics of Ambiguity: Navigating Moral Gray Areas
Navigating life often means facing situations shrouded in ambiguity. Clear-cut right and wrong give way to complex dilemmas where the ethical path seems obscured by a fog of uncertainty. This isn't simply a philosophical puzzle; it's a daily reality for individuals and organizations alike. This blog post delves into the fascinating and challenging world of "the ethics of ambiguity," exploring how we can approach these morally gray areas with integrity and clarity, offering practical strategies for ethical decision-making in uncertain times. We'll examine the challenges, explore different ethical frameworks, and provide tools to help you navigate the complexities of ambiguous situations.
Understanding the Nature of Ambiguity
The term "ambiguity" itself refers to situations lacking clear-cut definitions or solutions. In ethics, this translates to moral dilemmas where the "right" action isn't immediately apparent. These aren't simply situations with multiple options, but situations where the very nature of "right" and "wrong" is itself unclear or contested. This ambiguity stems from several sources:
Conflicting Values: Often, the most difficult ethical dilemmas arise when we face a conflict between deeply held values. For example, loyalty to a friend might clash with a commitment to honesty. Choosing one value often means compromising another.
Incomplete Information: Ethical decisions rarely occur with perfect information. We often must act based on incomplete data, projections, and educated guesses, increasing the uncertainty and ambiguity involved.
Unforeseen Consequences: Even with careful consideration, we cannot always predict the full range of consequences of our actions. Unexpected outcomes can drastically alter the ethical landscape, turning a seemingly good choice into a problematic one.
Cultural and Social Differences: What is considered ethical varies across cultures and social groups. Ambiguity arises when navigating different perspectives and moral frameworks, particularly in globalized contexts.
Ethical Frameworks for Navigating Ambiguity
Several ethical frameworks can help us approach ambiguous situations:
Utilitarianism: This framework emphasizes maximizing overall happiness and minimizing harm. In ambiguous situations, a utilitarian approach would involve weighing the potential consequences of different actions and choosing the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. However, predicting consequences accurately can be challenging.
Deontology: This approach focuses on moral duties and rules, regardless of the consequences. Deontological ethics emphasizes adherence to principles like honesty, fairness, and respect for individual rights, even if doing so leads to less desirable outcomes.
Virtue Ethics: This framework emphasizes character and moral excellence. Instead of focusing on specific actions, virtue ethics encourages cultivating virtues like integrity, compassion, and prudence. In ambiguous situations, a virtuous person would act in accordance with their well-developed moral character.
Ethics of Care: This framework prioritizes relationships and empathy. It emphasizes the importance of considering the impact of our actions on others, particularly those closest to us. This approach is particularly valuable in situations where interpersonal relationships are significantly involved.
Practical Strategies for Ethical Decision-Making in Ambiguous Situations
While ethical frameworks provide guidance, navigating ambiguity requires practical strategies:
Gather Information: Seek out as much relevant information as possible before making a decision. This includes considering different perspectives and potential consequences.
Identify Stakeholders: Consider who is affected by your decision and how they might be impacted.
Consult with Others: Discuss the dilemma with trusted colleagues, mentors, or advisors. Different perspectives can illuminate aspects you may have overlooked.
Consider Long-Term Consequences: Think beyond immediate outcomes and consider the potential long-term effects of your actions.
Document Your Reasoning: Clearly articulate your decision-making process, explaining the ethical considerations and your rationale. This is crucial for transparency and accountability.
Reflect and Learn: After making a decision, take time to reflect on the process and outcomes. What went well? What could you have done differently? Continuous learning is essential for navigating future ambiguous situations.
The Importance of Transparency and Accountability
In ambiguous situations, transparency and accountability are paramount. Openly communicating your decision-making process and rationale demonstrates integrity and fosters trust. Even if the outcome isn't perfect, transparency can mitigate negative consequences and build stronger relationships. Accountability means taking responsibility for your actions, both successes and failures, and learning from them.
Conclusion
The ethics of ambiguity is a complex and ever-evolving field. There are no easy answers, and navigating morally gray areas requires careful consideration, critical thinking, and a commitment to ethical principles. By utilizing the frameworks and strategies outlined above, we can approach these challenges with greater confidence and integrity, striving to make the best decisions possible even in the face of uncertainty. The journey through ethical ambiguity is ongoing, requiring continuous reflection and learning.
FAQs
1. How do I handle a situation where following one ethical principle violates another? This is the heart of many ethical dilemmas. You need to carefully weigh the competing principles, considering their relative importance in the context of the situation, and then make a reasoned judgment based on your understanding of the potential consequences.
2. What if my decision leads to unintended negative consequences? Acknowledge the negative consequences, take responsibility for your actions, and learn from the experience. This demonstrates integrity and builds trust.
3. Is there a single "right" answer in ambiguous situations? Often, there isn't a single definitively "right" answer. The goal is to make the most ethically sound decision based on the available information and your best judgment.
4. How can I improve my ethical decision-making skills? Regularly engage in ethical reflection, seek out diverse perspectives, and actively learn from your experiences (both successes and failures). Studying ethical frameworks can also significantly enhance your decision-making abilities.
5. What role does gut feeling play in ethical decision-making within ambiguous situations? While gut feelings shouldn't solely guide your decisions, they can sometimes signal an underlying intuition or concern. Pay attention to them, but always back them up with reasoned analysis and consideration of ethical frameworks.
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir, 2018-05-08 From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex comes a radical argument for ethical responsibility and freedom. In this classic introduction to existentialist thought, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity simultaneously pays homage to and grapples with her French contemporaries, philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, by arguing that the freedoms in existentialism carry with them certain ethical responsibilities. De Beauvoir outlines a series of “ways of being” (the adventurer, the passionate person, the lover, the artist, and the intellectual), each of which overcomes the former’s deficiencies, and therefore can live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues that in order to achieve true freedom, one must battle against the choices and activities of those who suppress it. The Ethics of Ambiguity is the book that launched Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist and existential philosophy. It remains a concise yet thorough examination of existence and what it means to be human. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir, 1948 A leading French existentialist forces readers to face the absurdity of the human condition and then proceeds to develop a dialectic of ambiguity that will enable them not to master the chaos but to create with it. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Bonds of Freedom Kristana Arp, 2001 Simone de Beauvoir published a number of philosophical essays and novels before writing The Second Sex. The most important of these was The Ethics of Ambiguity, in which she argues that one's freedom is always intertwined with that of others. The Bonds of Freedom examines de Beauvoir's ideas on ethics, demonstrating her importance in contemporary philosophy. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Existentialism, Feminism and Simone de Beauvoir J. Mahon, 2015-12-17 Simone de Beauvoir made her own distinctive contribution to existentialism in the form of an ethics which diverged sharply from that of Jean-Paul Sartre. In her novels and philosophical essays of the 1940s she produced not just a recognizably existentialist ethics, but also a character ethics and an ethics for violence. These concerns, stemming from her own personal philosophical background, give a vital, contemporary resonance to her work. De Beauvoir's feminist classic The Second Sex reflects her earlier philosophical interests, and is considerably strengthened by this influence. This book defends her existentialist feminism against the many reproaches which have been levelled against it over several decades, not least the criticism that it is steeped in Sartrean masculinism. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Works of Simone de Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir, 2011-04-28 This collection of classic titles by Beauvoir her most well know writings, The Second Sex and The Ethics Of Ambiguity as well as a biography of her life and a rare interview on her book The Second Sex. French writer and feminist, and Existentialist. She is known primarily for her treatise The Second Sex (1949), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the eternal feminine. It became a classic of feminist literature during the 1960s. Her novels expounded the major Existential themes, demonstrating her conception of the writer's commitment to the times. She Came To Stay (1943) treats the difficult problem of the relationship of a conscience to the other. Of her other works of fiction, perhaps the best known is The Mandarins (1954), a chronicle of the attempts of post-World War II intellectuals to leave their mandarin (educated elite) status and engage in political activism. She also wrote four books of philosophy, including The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947). Several volumes of her work are devoted to autobiography which constitute a telling portrait of French intellectual life from the 1930s to the 1970s. In addition to treating feminist issues, de Beauvoir was concerned with the issue of aging, which she addressed in A Very Easy Death (1964), on her mother's death in a hospital. In 1981 she wrote A Farewell to Sartre, a painful account of Sartre's last years. Simone de Beauvoir revealed herself as a woman of formidable courage and integrity, whose life supported her thesis: the basic options of an individual must be made on the premises of an equal vocation for man and woman founded on a common structure of their being, independent of their sexuality. Table of Contents: The Second Sex, On the publication of The Second Sex, interview The Ethics of Ambiguity, Biography |
| the ethics of ambiguity: What Is Existentialism? Simone de Beauvoir, 2020-09-24 'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity' How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers explore the absurdity of our notions of good and evil, and show instead how we make our own destiny simply by being. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir, 1997 Of all the writing that emerged from the existentialist movement, Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking study of women will probably have the most extensive and enduring impact. It is at once a work of anthropology and sociology, of biology and psychoanalysis, from the pen of a writer and novelist of pennetrating imaginative power.THE SECOND SEX stands, five decades after its first appearance, as the first landmark in the modern feminist upsurge that has transformed perceptions of the social relationship of man and womankind in our time |
| the ethics of ambiguity: A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir Laura Hengehold, Nancy Bauer, 2017-10-02 Winner of the 2018 Choice award for Outstanding Academic Title! The work of Simone de Beauvoir has endured and flowered in the last two decades, thanks primarily to the lasting influence of The Second Sex on the rise of academic discussions of gender, sexuality, and old age. Now, in this new Companion dedicated to her life and writings, an international assembly of prominent scholars, essayists, and leading interpreters reflect upon the range of Beauvoir’s contribution to philosophy as one of the great authors, thinkers, and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. The Companion examines Beauvoir’s rich intellectual life from a variety of angles—including literary, historical, and anthropological perspectives—and situates her in relation to her forbears and contemporaries in the philosophical canon. Essays in each of four thematic sections reveal the breadth and acuity of her insight, from the significance of The Second Sex and her work on the metaphysics of gender to her plentiful contributions in ethics and political philosophy. Later chapters trace the relationship between Beauvoir’s philosophical and literary work and open up her scholarship to global issues, questions of race, and the legacy of colonialism and sexism. The volume concludes by considering her impact on contemporary feminist thought writ large, and features pioneering work from a new generation of Beauvoir scholars. Ambitious and unprecedented in scope, A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir is an accessible and interdisciplinary resource for students, teachers, and researchers across the humanities and social sciences. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Age Silvia Stoller, 2014-04-01 Age and aging are pressing social-political issues. Yet, philosophers still have not paid sufficient attention to one of the major explorations of this topic, Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal work The Coming of Age (1970). For much too long, it has been overshadowed by her other groundbreaking work, The Second Sex (1949). Now, for the first time, this volume focuses on Beauvoir's essay on old age and critically explores its significance from a phenomenological and feminist perspective. International Beauvoir scholars and renowned feminist phenomenologists from Europe and North America offer a unique look at one of the 20th century’s most outstanding existential-philosophical studies on age and aging. Thematically, the articles and short comments collected in this volume cover three main issues which are crucial with respect to an investigation of Beauvoir's study on age: gender, ethics, and time. The volume essentially contributes to Beauvoir studies, aging studies, cultural and gender studies, feminist theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir Claudia Card, 2003-03-10 Table of contents |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir Penelope Deutscher, 2008-08-11 Many studies of Simone de Beauvoir have concentrated on her literature, her life, and her famous 1949 work The Second Sex. The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir places Beauvoir's theory of women's otherness in the context of a number of contemporary theories of ambiguity. Professor Deutscher reconsiders the resources on which Beauvoir drew and the innovation involved in their transformation to her purposes. The focus given Beauvoir's philosophy on gender and thus to her earliest work has overlooked the transformations she affected to her own concepts of ambiguity, reciprocity, and ethics as she considered different modes of otherness. Gender was just one of a number of these, and this book counterbalances its grip on our memory of her work by situating gender in the context of embodied time, ageing, generational differences, and race. By differentiating these aspects of otherness, Beauvoir revisited some of the concepts of reciprocity and ethics for which she is best remembered.--BOOK JACKET. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Philosophical Writings Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret A. Simons, 2005-01-26 Despite growing interest in her philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir remains widely misunderstood. She is typically portrayed as a mere intellectual follower of her companion, Jean-Paul Sartre. In Philosophical Writings, Beauvoir herself shows that nothing could be further from the truth. Beauvoir's philosophical work suffers from a lack of English-language translation or, worse, mistranslation into heavily condensed popular versions. Philosophical Writings provides an unprecedented collection of complete, scholarly editions of philosophical texts that cover the first twenty-three years of Beauvoir's career, including a number of recently discovered works. Ranging from metaphysical literature to existentialist ethics, Philosophical Writings brings together diverse elements of Beauvoir's work while highlighting continuities in the development of her thought. Each of the translations features detailed notes and a scholarly introduction explaining its larger significance. Revelatory and long overdue, Philosophical Writings adds to the ongoing resurgence of interest in Beauvoir's thought and to her growing influence on today's philosophical curriculum. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Dada and Existentialism Elizabeth Benjamin, 2016-08-30 Offering new critical approaches to Dada as quintessential part of the Avant-Garde, Dada and Existentialism: the Authenticity of Ambiguity reassesses the movement as a form of (proto-) Existentialist philosophy. Dada is often dismissed as an anti-art movement with a merely destructive theoretical impetus. French Existentialism is often condemned for its perceived quietist implications. However, closer analysis reveals a preoccupation with philosophy in the former and with art in the latter. Moreover, neither was nonsensical or meaningless; both reveal a rich individualist ethics aimed at the amelioration of the individual and society. The first major comparative study of Dada and Existentialism, this text contributes new perspectives on Dada as movement, historical legacy, and field of study. Analysing Dada works through Existentialist literature across the themes of choice, alienation, responsibility, freedom and truth, the text posits that Dada and Existentialism both advocate the creation of a self that aims for authenticity through ambiguity. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Moral Acrobatics Philippe Rochat, 2021 I sometimes like to daydream that if we were all somehow simultaneously outed as lechers and perverts and sentimental slobs, it might be, after the initial shock of disillusionment, liberating. It might be a relief to quit maintaining this rigid pose of normalcy and own up to the outlaws and monsters we are-- |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas Diane Perpich, 2008 This work offers a new interpretation of what Levinas means when he says that we are infinitely responsible to the other person. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Becoming Beauvoir Kate Kirkpatrick, 2019-08-22 “One is not born a woman, but becomes one”, Simone de Beauvoir A symbol of liberated womanhood, Simone de Beauvoir's unconventional relationships inspired and scandalised her generation. A philosopher, writer, and feminist icon, she won prestigious literary prizes and transformed the way we think about gender with The Second Sex. But despite her successes, she wondered if she had sold herself short. Her liaison with Jean-Paul Sartre has been billed as one of the most legendary love affairs of the twentieth century. But for Beauvoir it came at a cost: for decades she was dismissed as an unoriginal thinker who 'applied' Sartre's ideas. In recent years new material has come to light revealing the ingenuity of Beauvoir's own philosophy and the importance of other lovers in her life. This ground-breaking biography draws on never-before-published diaries and letters to tell the fascinating story of how Simone de Beauvoir became herself. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of Ambiguity Sonia Kruks, 2012-12-06 A study of Simone de Beauvoir's (1908-1986) political thinking. The author locates de Beauvoir in her own intellectual and political context and demonstrates her continuing significance. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Care in Healthcare Franziska Krause, Joachim Boldt, 2017-10-24 This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book examines the concept of care and care practices in healthcare from the interdisciplinary perspectives of continental philosophy, care ethics, the social sciences, and anthropology. Areas addressed include dementia care, midwifery, diabetes care, psychiatry, and reproductive medicine. Special attention is paid to ambivalences and tensions within both the concept of care and care practices. Contributions in the first section of the book explore phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches to care and reveal historical precursors to care ethics. Empirical case studies and reflections on care in institutionalised and standardised settings form the second section of the book. The concluding chapter, jointly written by many of the contributors, points at recurring challenges of understanding and practicing care that open up the field for further research and discussion. This collection will be of great value to scholars and practitioners of medicine, ethics, philosophy, social science and history. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Blood of Others Simone de Beauvoir, 2024-10-03 Potent and vividly emotional, Simone de Beauvoir’s captivating novel questions freedom and individual responsibility in the face of brutality ‘These carefree faces, on which we allowed our smiles to spread, were for others the mask of tragedy.’ Jean Blomart, patriot leader against the German forces of occupation, waits throughout an endless night for his wounded lover, Hélène, to die. Told through memories of his and her life, The Blood of Others paints an intense and moving picture of their love story and life in German occupied Paris during the Second World War. In the face of a seemingly unstoppable force, Hélène and Jean are confronted by the illusion of freedom and made to question their individual roles in the collective struggle against fascism, with devastating consequences. First published in 1945, this powerful novel resonates profoundly today and brings the ideas of one of the most important existentialist thinkers to life in spellbinding prose. With an Introduction by Ali Smith. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism Steven Crowell, 2012-02-16 These essays demonstrate the contemporary vitality of existential thought, engaging critically with the main concepts and figures of existentialism. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Ethics for Managers Joseph Gilbert, 2016-06-10 Ethics for Managers introduces students to the philosophical underpinnings of business ethics and translates this theory into practical terms, demonstrating the moral implications of the decisions managers make. This edition features new material on global ethics, the financial downturn, and ethical sustainability. New, student-friendly features include: Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, which provide a roadmap to what is covered and how to use it. Cases that demonstrate real-world scenarios, allowing readers to grapple with real moral ambiguity. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which challenge students to see different moral perspectives and to practice good decision-making. A new chapter on international business ethics. Students of business ethics courses will find this compact, well-organized text a useful tool to understand ethics in the digital age. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of War A. J. Coates, 1997-09-15 Drawing on examples from the history of warfare from the crusades to the present day, The ethics of war explores the limits and possibilities of the moral regulation of war. While resisting the commonly held view that 'war is hell', A.J. Coates focuses on the tensions which exist between war and morality. The argument is conducted from a just war standpoint, though the moral ambiguity and mixed record of that tradition is acknowledge and the dangers which an exaggerated view of the justice or moral worth of war poses are underlined. In the first part, the broad image of the just war is compared with the competing images of realism, militarism and pacifism. In the second part, the moral issues associated both with the decision to go to war and with the manner in which war is conducted are explored. Was the allied decision to go to war in the Gulf premature? were economic sanctions a more effective and morally preferable option? was Britain justified in going to war over the Falklands? did the allied bombing of Germany in the Second World War constitute a war crime? should the IRA's claim to belligerent status be recognised? these questions and more are raised in this important book. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to Be Free Andy West, 2022-01-25 Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. He has conversations with prisoners about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings, and offers new ways to think about their situation. These questions about how to live are ones we all share, but the extraordinary setting makes them more urgent. Can bad behaviour ever be justified? Do we have the right to forgive ourselves, whether we’ve committed a crime or offended a friend? Can a prisoner be free? Are they any less free than those of us with a mortgage to pay or a school-run to do? As his students discuss these knotty problems, West struggles with his own inherited guilt: his father, uncle and brother all spent serious time in jail. Was it inevitable that one day he would have to spend time inside too? Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable book. Through its blend of memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, readers will gain a new insight into our justice system and, more importantly, into themselves. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Letters to Sartre Simone de Beauvoir, 2012-06 In these letters, de Beauvoir tells Sartre everything, tracing the extraordinary complications of their triangular love life; they reveal her not only as manipulative and dependent, but also as vulnerable, passionate, jealous, and... |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Existentialist Ethics William Leon McBride, 1997 This collection of essays and reviews represents the most significant and comprehensive writing on Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. Miola's edited work also features a comprehensive critical history, coupled with a full bibliography and photographs of major productions of the play from around the world. In the collection, there are five previously unpublished essays. The topics covered in these new essays are women in the play, the play's debt to contemporary theater, its critical and performance histories in Germany and Japan, the metrical variety of the play, and the distinctly modern perspective on the play as containing dark and disturbing elements. To compliment these new essays, the collection features significant scholarship and commentary on The Comedy of Errors that is published in obscure and difficulty accessible journals, newspapers, and other sources. This collection brings together these essays for the first time. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty Whitney Bauman, Kevin O'Brien, 2019-08-06 This book offers a multidisciplinary environmental approach to ethics in response to the contemporary challenge of climate change caused by globalized economics and consumption. This book synthesizes the incredible complexity of the problem and the necessity of action in response, highlighting the unambiguous problem facing humanity in the 21st century, but arguing that it is essential to develop an ethics housed in ambiguity in response. Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty is divided into theoretical and applied chapters, with the theoretical sections engaging in dialogue with scholars from a variety of disciplines, while the applied chapters offer insight from 20th century activists who demonstrate and/or illuminate the theory, including Martin Luther King, Rachel Carson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. This book is written for scholars and students in the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies and the environmental humanities, and will appeal to courses in religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, and social theory. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of History David Carr, Thomas Robert Flynn, Rudolf A. Makkreel, 2004-10-30 Expressing a variety of philosophical interests and epistemic and ethical views, the essays in this volume acknowledge the ethical dimension of historical enterprise and describe that dimension as integral to what history is. --book cover. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Feminist Phenomenology Linda Fisher, Lester Embree, 2013-04-17 This volume is composed chiefly of papers first presented and discussed at the Research Symposium on Feminist Phenomenology held November 18-19, 1994 in Delray Beach, Florida. Those papers have been revised and expanded for publication in the present volume and several essays have been added. We would like to thank very much all the participants in the symposium, including the session chairs and others in attendance, whose interest and enthusiasm contributed greatly. The symposium and this volume, including the name for it, were conceived of by Lester Embree, who also arranged sponsorship, local arrangements, and publication through the William F. Dietrich Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida Atlantic University and the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, Inc. The invitees were decided upon jointly. Linda Fisher has been chiefly responsible for the editing and the preparation of the camera-ready copy. Linda Fisher Lester Embree Acknowledgments The editing and preparation of this volume has spanned several cities and two continents and I am indebted to many people from each place. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Seven Types of Ambiguity William Empson, 2004 Hailed as a masterpiece on its publication in 1930, this landmark in the history of criticism draws on authors from Chaucer to Eliot, illuminating the strategies of individual writers and creating a brilliant theory of poetic practice. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener Martin Gardner, 1999-08-21 The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener showcases Martin Gardner as the consummate philosopher, thinker, and great mathematician that he is. Exploring issues that range from faith to prayer to evil to immortality, and far beyond, Garnder challenges the discerning reader with fundamental questions of classical philosophy and life's greater meanings. Recalling such philosophers was Wittgenstein and Arendt, The Whys of Philosophical Scrivener embodies Martin Garner's unceasing interest and joy in the impenetrable mysteries of life. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot William Large, 2005 With a central focus on themes of ethics and subjectivity, this analysis pairs Maurice Blanchot's creativity with Emmanuel Levinas's philosophies across topics of friendship, the opposition of speech to writing, and the ethical role of language. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome Rebecca Langlands, 2018-09-13 The well-known mythographer Marina Warner has described the process of reading fairy tales and folktales as 'tasting the dragon's blood' - a magical and transformative process by which one's ears are opened to the voices of the past and of other worlds. Roman exempla, which constitute a national story-telling tradition, are very different in many ways from the dream-like fantasies of fairy-tales and other narrative folk traditions that have been the subject of Warner's studies. In (supposedly) true stories from history, battle-hardened warriors, noble maidens and honourable sons of the soil face impossible dangers, take terrible decisions and sacrifice their lives, their limbs and even their own children for the sake of justice, discipline and the Roman community. Yet for the ancient Romans too, hearing the blood-soaked stories of their ancestral heroes was an intimate and potent experience, and this 'taste of the hero's blood' had an intoxicating effect similar to the blood of Warner's dragon: evoking other worlds, shaping understanding of their own world-- |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Seven Modes of Uncertainty C. Namwali Serpell, 2014-04-30 Literature is uncertain. Literature is good for us. These two ideas are often taken for granted. But what is the relationship between literature’s capacity to perplex and its ethical value? Seven Modes of Uncertainty contends that literary uncertainty is crucial to ethics because it pushes us beyond the limits of our experience. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir –– A Humanist Thinker , 2015-07-14 This collection of humanist readings of Simone de Beauvoir’s work is a novel contribution to contemporary research on Beauvoir, and a defense of the importance of the humanities. It demonstrates the significance and value of humanistic research through the work of Beauvoir, and argues that the reception and influence of her works demonstrate the transformative potential of humanistic research. Organized around three topics, each chapter ascertains Beauvoir’s relation to the humanities and the humanist tradition. The first group focuses on Beauvoir’s interdisciplinary methodology and critical thinking, the second on her ethics of freedom and the construction of values. The last section explores how Beauvoir uses literature as a laboratory for developing her ideas on human interaction. The chapters can be studied as independent essays, or read together as a whole. Simone de Beauvoir—A Humanist Thinker reveals new and previously unexplored dimensions of Beauvoir’s work by exposing her as a significant and inspiring humanist thinker. This volume attests that Beauvoir’s works continue to offer conceptual tools and insights enabling readers to critically analyze their own situation. In today’s world, where religious fanaticism and totalitarian ideologies are gaining ground, humanist values and humanistic research are more important than ever. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema Jean-Pierre Boulé, Ursula Tidd, 2012-09-01 Simone de Beauvoir’s work has not often been associated with film studies, which appears paradoxical when it is recognized that she was the first feminist thinker to inaugurate the concept of the gendered ‘othering’ gaze. This book is an attempt to redress this balance and reopen the dialogue between Beauvoir’s writings and film studies. The authors analyse a range of films, from directors including Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Lucille Hadzihalilovic, Sam Mendes, and Sally Potter, by drawing from Beauvoir’s key works such as The Second Sex (1949), The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) and Old Age (1970). |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Wartime Diary Simone de Beauvoir, 2009 Written from September 1939 to January 1941, Simone de Beauvoir’s Wartime Diary gives English readers unabridged access to one of the scandalous texts that threaten to overturn traditional views of Beauvoir’s life and work. Beauvoir’s account of her clandestine affair with Jacques Bost and sexual relationships with various young women challenges the conventional picture of Beauvoir as the devoted companion of Jean-Paul Sartre, just as her account of completing her novel She Came to Stay at a time when Sartre’s philosophy in Being and Nothingness was barely begun calls into question the traditional view of Beauvoir’s novel as merely illustrating Sartre’s philosophy. Most important, the Wartime Diary provides an exciting account of Beauvoir’s philosophical transformation from the prewar solipsism of She Came to Stay to the postwar political engagement of The Second Sex. This edition also features previously unpublished material, including her musings about consciousness and order, recommended reading lists, and notes on labor unions. In providing new insights into Beauvoir’s philosophical development, the Wartime Diary promises to rewrite a crucial chapter of Western philosophy and intellectual history. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Authenticity Charles Taylor, 2018-08-06 “Charles Taylor is a philosopher of broad reach and many talents, but his most striking talent is a gift for interpreting different traditions, cultures and philosophies to one another...[This book is] full of good things.” —New York Times Book Review Everywhere we hear talk of decline, of a world that was better once, maybe fifty years ago, maybe centuries ago, but certainly before modernity drew us along its dubious path. While some lament the slide of Western culture into relativism and nihilism and others celebrate the trend as a liberating sort of progress, Charles Taylor calls on us to face the moral and political crises of our time, and to make the most of modernity’s challenges. “The great merit of Taylor’s brief, non-technical, powerful book...is the vigor with which he restates the point which Hegel (and later Dewey) urged against Rousseau and Kant: that we are only individuals in so far as we are social...Being authentic, being faithful to ourselves, is being faithful to something which was produced in collaboration with a lot of other people...The core of Taylor’s argument is a vigorous and entirely successful criticism of two intertwined bad ideas: that you are wonderful just because you are you, and that ‘respect for difference’ requires you to respect every human being, and every human culture—no matter how vicious or stupid.” —Richard Rorty, London Review of Books |
| the ethics of ambiguity: Engaging Evil William C. Olsen, Thomas J. Csordas, 2019-05-03 Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir Margaret A. Simons, 2006 Since her death in 1986 and the publication of her letters and diaries in 1990, interest in the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir has increased. An international group of philosophers present 16 essays that reveal Beauvoir as one of the century's most important and influential thinkers. |
| the ethics of ambiguity: On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics Michael J. Selgelid, Brian Rappert, 2013-12-19 Claims about the transformations enabled by modern science and medicine have been accompanied by an unsettling question in recent years: might the knowledge being produced undermine – rather than further – human and animal well being? On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics examines the potential for the skills, know-how, information, and techniques associated with modern biology to serve contrasting ends. In recognition of the moral ambiguity of science and technology, each chapter considers steps that might be undertaken to prevent the deliberate spread of disease. Central to achieving this aim is the consideration of what role ethics might serve. To date, the ethical analysis of the themes of this volume has been limited. This book remedies this situation by bringing together contributors from a broad range of backgrounds to address a highly important ethical issue confronting humanity during the 21st century. |
the ethics of Ambiguity in Quintilian
Quasi Labor intus 209 of forensic disputes.5 In Quintilian’s account, this second category includes four status legales, issues that concern the application of legal codes: letter and spirit (scriptum et voluntas), inference …
THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY - WordPress.com
SECTION I: AMBIGUITY AND FREEDOM, pp. 1-34 Contents I Ambiguity and Freedom 7 II Personal Freedom and Others 35 III The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity 74 1. The Aesthetic Attitude 74 2. Freedom and Liberation 78 3. The Antinomies …
FREEDOM, OPPRESSION AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ETHICS
Ethics of Ambiguity, they are also the primary vehicle for the expression of our transcendence. The Judeo-Christian God, omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent, stands outside of time and therefore outside of history. God has …
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The Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir,2018-05-08 From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex comes a radical argument for ethical responsibility and freedom In this classic introduction to existentialist …
The Ethics of Ambiguity
Check more about The Ethics of Ambiguity Summary Hi,Welcome to Bookey! Today we will unlock the book The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir. The Ethics of Ambiguity invites us into a profound exploration of …
Grey s Anatomy as Philosophy: Ethical Ambiguity in Shades of Grey
for others. And there is ambiguity in our moral world: values are not fixed, permanent, or given from outside, but come from human beings and our intersubjective experiences. An existentialist ethics of ambiguity, then, is characterized by a …
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S ETHICS - JSTOR
Ethics of Ambiguity deals with what one should do when a friend comes to ask for money to buy alcohol and one suspects that this person is an alcoholic. Beauvoir does not suggest that one choose between the principle of giving or not …
Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com The Ethics of A…
The Ethics of Ambiguity BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Raised by a conservative father and devoutly Catholic mother in Paris, Simone de Beauvoir grew up with her parents’ sensibilities but proved a brilliant thinker early …
The Women of Njal's Saga: An Ethics of Ambiguity? - ResearchG…
The Ethics of Ambiguity. Simone de Beauvoir points to a central paradox of our existence, commenting that man, meaning of course mankind, “escapes from his
The Ethics of Ambiguity - Cambridge University Press & Ass…
geared toward personal success. In The Ethics of Ambiguity, Beauvoir argues that ethical subjects must live their lives in a continued series of attempts to contest power and become free by ensuring freedom for all. Foucault, too, moved …
CONCEPTIONS OF FREEDOM IN BEAUVOIR'S THE ETHICS OF AMBI…
section of The Ethics 0/Ambiguity she describes some ofthe ethical di lemmas that acting out this commitment embroils one in. Existentialist ethics cannot provide hard and fast rules for resolving these dilemmas. …
Literature, Moral Reflection and Ambiguity - JSTOR
2. Literature and the Varieties of Ambiguity First though, a point about ambiguity in literature generally: It is widely understood that ambiguity may feature in a work of literature in a number of ways.5 Some of these ways that are worth …
THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY - antilogicalism.files.wordpress.com
SECTION I: AMBIGUITY AND FREEDOM, pp. 1-34 Contents I Ambiguity and Freedom 7 II Personal Freedom and Others 35 III The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity 74 1. The Aesthetic Attitude 74 2. Freedom and Liberation 78 3. The Antinomies …
Simone De Beauvoir The Ethics Of Ambiguity
Simone De Beauvoir The Ethics Of Ambiguity dancing through history cass joan 9780132043892 abebooks - Jan 07 2023 web beginning with the origins of dance and moving on to what takes place on western dance …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY
SECTION I: AMBIGUITY AND FREEDOM, pp. 1-34 Contents I Ambiguity and Freedom 7 II Personal Freedom and Others 35 III The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity 74 1. The Aesthetic Attitude 74 2. Freedom and Liberation 78 3. The Antinomies …
MORAL AMBIGUITY: AN ETHICAL EXAMINATION OF ITS CONSTITUE…
Even though the references to “moral ambiguity” are frequent across the organizational ethics and social science literatures, a formal attempt to create a working definition has been lacking. Therefore, the first part of my dissertation is …
Understanding the complexity and ambiguity of AI Ethics
ambiguity of AI Ethics Paul Lukowicz DFKI/RPTU Kaiserslautern. History of AI 2. Recently AI had some spectacular ... Five aspects of AI ethics 1. Artificial consciousness, singularity etc. – statistical models of online lexical token …
IN SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S PHILOSOPHYl - JSTOR
In the first chapter of The Ethics of Ambiguity, Beauvoir describes how freedom, taken as intrinsic to the human condition, constitutes a state of permanent tension because it forces choices and possibilities upon us. There are …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
3 The Ethics of Ambiguity: An Existentialist Ethics - Springer
Simone de Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity' is a long philosophical essay published by Gallimard in 1947. De Beauvoir says she wrote it in response to requests, from Camus and others, for an essay on action, and with a view to …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
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The Ethics Of Ambiguity: The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
The Ethics Of Ambiguity (PDF)
The Ethics Of Ambiguity Book Review: Unveiling the Power of Words In a world driven by information and connectivity, the energy of words has be more evident than ever. They have the ability to inspire, provoke, and ignite change. …
CHAPTER 3 ETHICS AND DEEP MORAL AMBIGUITY - Springer
ETHICS AND DEEP MORAL AMBIGUITY KEVIN WM. WILDES, S.J. President, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. Formanypeopletheveryideasof“ethics”and“moralambiguity”arecontradictory. Many people, religious and secular, liberal and …
Simone De Beauvoir Ethics Of Ambiguity - 45.79.9.118
The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir, novelist, dramatist, and philosopher, was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France. A leading exponent of French existentialism, her …
Reflections: Fritz Haber and the Ambiguity of Ethics - ResearchGate
here, publishing on predissociation spectra – a basis for laser emission – and the low-temperature purification of parahydrogen. On the outbreak of the First World War, Haber, a mili-
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR AND THE JOYS OF EXISTENCE - JSTOR
Simone de Beauvoir finished writing The Ethics of Ambiguity in 1946. In "Existentialism and Popular Wisdom," an essay published the year before, she disputes the charge that existentialism is a philosophy of despair that …
the ethics of Ambiguity in Quintilian
Quasi Labor intus 209 of forensic disputes.5 In Quintilian’s account, this second category includes four status legales, issues that concern the application of legal codes: letter and spirit (scriptum et voluntas), inference …
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Ethics Of Ambiguity David Carr,Thomas Robert Flynn,Rudolf A. Makkreel. Ethics Of Ambiguity: ut pgsd praktikum ipa di sd pdgk4107 pdf scribd - Dec 27 2021 web laporan praktek ipa biologi ut pgsd praktikum ipa di sd pdgk4107 untuk …
Beauvoir’s Ethics, Meaning, and Competition Elena Popa Abstra
2. The meaning of life in The Ethics of Ambiguity While my argument is mainly based on The Ethics of Ambiguity, Beauvoir’s earlier considerations on the importance other’s people’s projects and the critique of tyranny …
Ambiguity and Alienation in The Second Sex - JSTOR
Ethics of Ambiguity, and by an analysis of the rhetoric-the language-of philosophy in The Second Sex. It is followed by a detailed study of Beau-voir's analysis of female desire. Drawing these threads together, the chapter concludes …
The Ethics Of Ambiguity (PDF) - netstumbler.com
The Ethics Of Ambiguity: The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
Five EXISTENTIAL HUMANISM AND MORAL FREEDOM IN SIMONE DE B…
Pyrrhus and Cineas (2004e), The Ethics of Ambiguity (1976), The Second Sex (2010), “Right-Wing Thought Today” (2012d), and The Coming of Age (1973) are examples of such works. De-masking oppressive myths and false …
Impartial Evaluation under Ambiguity* Richard Bradley
Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility,” Journal of Politi-cal Economy 63 (1955): 309–21. ... theory as situations of ambiguity, individuals cannot determine unique ex-pected utilities for …
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Title: The ethics of ambiguity Subject: 323547964\r\n Keywords \r\n Created Date: 4/27/2017 9:29:54 AM
Negotiating Ambiguity, Nuance, and Uncertainty: A View from Colo…
precisely because their nuances and complexities leave room for the ambiguity that characterizes the legacy of conflict. Art, like many ancient practices, leverages symbols and their possible interpretations to challenge the …
The Ethics Of Ambiguity
The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
Ethics Of Ambiguity
Ethics Of Ambiguity Robert Frost - John H. Timmerman 2002 Robert Frost: The Ethics of Ambiguity examines Frost's ethical positioning as a poet in the age of modernism. The argument is that Frost constructs his poetry with …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
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The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in modern France A leading exponent of French existentialism her …
