Author	Steeves, H. Peter. author
Title	Founding Community [electronic resource] : A Phenomenological-Ethical Inquiry / by H. Peter Steeves
Imprint	Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer, 1998
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5182-5
Descript	X, 161 p. online resource

Phenomenology, in its traditional encounters with ethics, has commonly aimed at a more descriptive rather than prescriptive goal. The direction of this project, however, is both phenomenological and prescriptive as I attempt to provide a phenomenological foundation for communitarian ethical theory. I argue, following Husserl, that the Ego and the Other arise together in sense and thus we are committed to community in a foundational way. I am always and fundamentally constituted as a member of a community - as a Self among Others - and, given this, there are certain ethical implications. Namely, there is a communal Good of which my good is but a perspective; indeed, it is a perspective on a Good which encompasses the whole of the living world and not just humanity. Consequently, we are foundationally imbedded in a deep community and a deep communitarian ethic

I: Morality and Phenomenology -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Science, Morality, and Phenomenology -- Notes -- II: The Ego and the Other in a Pairing Relation -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Empathic Perception and the Constitution of the Ego and the Other in Cartesian Meditations -- 3. The Sphere of Ownness -- 4. The Reciprocal Relation of Pairing: Some Problems -- 5. Theunissen and the Question Concerning Pairing -- Notes -- III: Instinct and the Presence of the Other -- 1. The Case for Instinct -- 2. The Other as Unity -- 3. Re-Thinking Infantile Intentionality -- 4. Limitations from a Husserlian Standpoint -- Notes -- IV: Moral Categoriality & Moral Being -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The History of Moral Theory -- 3. Categoriality and Foundations -- 4. Moral Categoriality -- 5. Morality as Choice v. Mode of Being -- 6. Problem: The Unthinking Actor -- 7. Problem: The Non-Judgmental Actor -- 8. Conclusion -- Notes -- V: Phenomenological Communitarianism -- 1. Introduction: The Descriptive and the Normative -- 2. Communitarian Theory in General: Three Problems -- 3. The โ{128}{156}Disappearing-Selfโ{128}{157} Problem -- 4. The โ{128}{156}Intersubjective Goodโ{128}{157} Problem -- 5. The โ{128}{156}Constitution of a Communityโ{128}{157} Problem -- 6. The State of our Union, the Union of our State -- Notes -- VI: Non-Human Life and the Boundaries of Community -- 1. Introduction: A Persian Fable -- 2. Initial Human Pairing with Animals -- 3. โ{128}{156}Animal Phenomenologyโ{128}{157} and the Possibility of Community Generated Without Humans -- 4. The Gracious Act of Attention Late-in-Coming -- 5. Community Through Narrative -- 6. Humans and Animals in a Second-Order Community -- 7. Conclusion: The Common Good as Moral Foundation -- Notes