Wonder and Generosity

Their Role in Ethics and Politics

Marguerite La Caze

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781438446776
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Wonder and Generosity provides a fresh account of how the passions of wonder—based on accepting others' differences—and generosity—based on self-respect and mutual respect—can supplement each other to establish an ethics and politics of respect for sexual and cultural differences. Drawing on the work of both historical and contemporary thinkers, such as Descartes, Kant, Beauvoir, Arendt, Irigaray, and Derrida, Marguerite La Caze applies her theoretical framework to a range of contemporary political challenges, including asylum-seeker policies, justice for indigenous and other oppressed groups, debates over official apologies, gender equality, and responses to radical evil. La Caze's book contributes to understanding the relationship between equality and difference in public life, the extent to which we must regard others as similar in the name of equality, and the extent to which we must acknowledge significant differences.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Wonder and Generosity
• 2. Love and Respect
• 3. Responding to Difference and Similarity
• 4. The Relation between Ethics and Politics
• 5. Cosmopolitanism, Hospitality, and Refugees
• 6. Wonder, Radical Evil, and Forgiveness
• 7. Apology, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography