Year of Award
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Philosophy
Other Degree Name/Area of Focus
Environmental Philosophy
Department or School/College
Philosophy
Committee Chair
Deborah Slicer
Commitee Members
Christopher Preston, Kathleen Kane
Keywords
community, nonhumans, virtue ethics, flourishing, capabilities
Publisher
University of Montana
Subject Categories
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Abstract
I attempt to understand what is meant by community by grounding the analysis in Raymond Williams’ historical definition. From this, I work the criteria of community as described by Williams so to determine their precise meaning and primacy. I attempt to show why community must be small in size while arguing that humans are in a community with nonhumans. Building upon this move, I take up an argument for the role of place in community formation. This preceding inquiry is meant to prime an analysis of both virtue ethics and literature, specifically an application of Martha Nussbaum’s Central Capabilities to Terry Tempest Williams’ Refuge and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. In this, I make the case that human flourishing is possible when one is in an ecosystemic community with nonhumans present. This is to say that nonhumans impact other imperative goods in a serious way. Following from this, I provide a moral constructivist account of intrinsic value.
Recommended Citation
Moore, Alexander, "A Search for Community" (2020). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11545.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11545
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© Copyright 2020 Alexander Moore