Self-Help, Moral Philosophy, and the Moral Present (original) (raw)

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.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

• Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
• Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
• Cancel anytime View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

1. 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.
2. 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.
  Google Scholar
• Diamond, C. (1991). The realistic spirit: Wittgenstein, philosophy and the mind. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  Google Scholar
• Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Bright sided: How positive thinking is undermining America. New York: Picador.
  Google Scholar
• 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.
  Chapter Google Scholar
• 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.
  Google Scholar
• Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self identity: Self and society in the late modern age. California: Stanford University Press.
  Google Scholar
• Grodin, D. (1991). The interpreting audience: The therapeutics of self-help book reading. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(4), 404–420.
  Article Google Scholar
• Hacking, I. (1995). Rewriting the soul: Multiple personality and the sciences of memory (p. 1995). Boston: Harvard University Press.
  Google Scholar
• Hochschild, A. R. (2003). The commersialization of intimate life: Notes from home and work. California: University of Californa Press.
  Google Scholar
• MacIntyre, A. (1985). After virtue: A study in moral theory. London: Duckworth.
  Google Scholar
• Murdoch, I. (1992). Metaphysics as a guide to morals. London: Chatto & Windus.
  Google Scholar
• Murdoch, I. (1997). Existentialists and mystics: Writings in philosophy and literature. London: Chatto & Windus.
  Google Scholar
• Nussbaum, M. (1990). Love’s knowledge: Essays on philosophy and literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  Google Scholar
• Rimke, H. M. (2000). Governing citizens through self-help literature. Cultural Studies, 14(1), 61–78.
  Article Google Scholar
• Rose, N. (1996). Inventing our selves: Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  Book Google Scholar
• 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.
  Google Scholar
• Shafer-Landau, R. (2003). Moral realism: A defence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  Book Google Scholar
• Simonds, W. (1992). Women and self-help culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  Google Scholar
• Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  Google Scholar
• Williams, B. (1985). Ethics and the limits of philosophy. London: Fontana Paperbacks.
  Google Scholar
• Winch, P. (1972). Ethics and action. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
  Google Scholar
• Winch, P. (1987). Trying to make sense. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
  Google Scholar

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 24, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
   Nora Hämäläinen

Corresponding author

Correspondence toNora Hämäläinen.

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

Download citation

• Published: 03 November 2015
• Issue date: May 2016
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-015-9371-3

Keywords