Pettigrove, G. (2007) Ambitions. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 10(1), pp. 53-68. (doi: 10.1007/s10677-006-9044-4)
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Abstract
Ambition is a curiously neglected topic in ethics. It isn’t that philosophers have not discussed it. Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Harrington, Locke, Rousseau, Smith, Santayana and a number of others have discussed ambition. But it has seldom received more than a few paragraphs worth of analysis, in spite of the fact that ambition plays a central role in Western politics (one cannot be elected without it), and in spite of the fact that Machiavelli, Harrington, Locke and Rousseau each considered it to be among the greatest threats to political security. The aim of this paper is to provide a long overdue analysis of ambition. The first part of the paper explores what ambition is. The second seeks to answer the question, “Is ambition a virtue or a vice?”
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Pettigrove, Professor Glen |
| Authors: | Pettigrove, G. |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy |
| Journal Name: | Ethical Theory and Moral Practice |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| ISSN: | 1386-2820 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1572-8447 |
| Published Online: | 15 November 2006 |
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