Ethics of Discernment

Patrick H. Byrne is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and director of the Lonergan Institute at Boston College.

• PrefaceIntroduction Part I: PreliminariesChapter 1: Discernment and Self-AppropriationChapter 2: Objectivity and Factual Knowing: Lonergan’s Three QuestionsChapter 3: Self-Appropriation, Part I: Self-Affirmation of Cognitional Structure Part II: What Are We Doing When We Are Being Ethical?Chapter 4: The Structure of Ethical Intentionality: Three More QuestionsChapter 5: Kinds of FeelingsChapter 6: Feelings as Intentional Responses and Horizons of FeelingsChapter 7: Feelings and Value Reflection Part III: Why is Doing That Being Ethical?Chapter 8: Horizons of Feelings, Conversion, and ObjectivityChapter 9: Judgments of Comparative Value and the Scale of Value PreferenceChapter 10: Self-Appropriation, Part II: Why is Doing that Being Ethical? Part IV: What Is Brought About By Doing That?Chapter 11: The Human Good DescribedChapter 12: The Human Good: Explanatory FoundationsChapter 13: The Notion and the Ontology of the GoodChapter 14: Explanatory Genera and the Objective Scale of Values: A Preliminary Grounding Part V: Method in EthicsChapter 15: Method in Ethics I: PreliminariesChapter 16: Method in Ethics II: Dialectic and Foundations

"Byrne is a clear and engaging writer and a lifelong teacher who respects the needs of the reader for illustrative examples that bring to life the theoretical ideas explored in his book. Especially compelling are the illustrations of moral decisions drawn from his own life and the extended examples drawn from the work of novelists. The book as a whole seems aimed at scholars and graduate students, but because of its wide range of concerns and topics and its inclusion of extended examples much of it is accessible and should prove of great value to the educated public and the advanced undergraduates."- Paulette W. Kidder, Seattle University (Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society, December 2018) "This is a remarkable book. Patrick Byrne’s goal is modest: to answer some difficult questions about ethics left unanswered in the writings of Canadian Jesuit philosopher, Bernard Lonergan. But, as the chapters unfold, the attentive reader finds striking analyses that address major challenges arising in ethics today: subjectivity and objectivity, reason and religion, rationality and affectivity."- Kenneth R. Melchin, Saint Paul University (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018) "Patrick Byrne’s elaborate and complex book is the fruit of a lifetime of reflection and teaching, and a significant and singular contribution to the field of Lonergan studies." - Ivo Coelho (Divyadaan: Journal of Philosophy and Education)