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Rejecting the popular notion that everyone is equal and, therefore, ought to be equally proud, Richard Taylor defines pride as justified love of oneself. What justifies this self-love is personal excellence, that is, actual achievement of the kind that sets a proud person apart from the rest. Examples of the justifiably proud includeSocrates,Ludwig van Beethoven,Malcolm X,Willa Cather,Pablo Picasso, andAmelia Earhart. However, pride is not a virtue reserved only for the famous. People unknown to the world often possess a greatness equal to that of the most renowned heroes. The truly proud are those who excel in some worthwhile area, be it literature, science, or good parenting. Their excellence is based on some ability or strength that they exploit to its fullest potential. Restoring Prideis "elitist" in that it acknowledges that some people are better as human beings than others, and that they have made themselves so by perfecting their natural talents. The idea of the Sermon on the Mount, that the poor and the meek are blessed, is repudiated. Instead, Taylor embraces the classical Greek ideal of virtue as personal excellence without any suggestion that everyone is equal in worth. The proud, setting the rules and standards for themselves, are apt to be looked on as unconventional. However, one invariable rule guides their behavior toward others: considerateness. The same egalitarian standard applies to their treatment under the law in a democratic society. While concerned with the rules of manners,Restoring Prideis not a book of etiquette. Making no effort at "political correctness," it espouses, in a straightforward and jargon-free style, an ideal of life, exhorting us all to explore and cultivate the gifts within us, and thus to enjoy the fruits of genuine pride.
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Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, NewYork 14228..2197
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Published1996byPrometheusBooks Resroring Pride: TheLoseVirtueof OurAge. Copyright© l 996 by Richard Taylor.All rightsreserved.No pan of this publication may bereproduced,scored in a retrievalsystem,or rransmicced in any fonn or by any means, electronic, mechanical , photocopying, recording,or otherwise, without prior written permissionof the publisher,exceptin the caseof brief quotations embodied in critical articlesand reviews.Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus &oks, 59 John Glenn Drive,Amherst,New York 1422~2 197, 716-6910133.FAX: 716--091--0137.
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He who lets the world or h · . ts own portion f · ' choose his plan of life for h . h o tt, im, as no need of th o er faculty than th e ape-like f . . . any h h one o 1m1tat 1on He wl .o c coses his plan for himself employs all his.fac
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Pan Threeof this volumeis in pan adaptedfromRichard Taylor, VirtueEthics Oncerlaken, N.Y.:Linden&ok Co., 1991), and is used with pennission of the publisher.
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