Gabriele Taylor – författare

Gabriele Taylor presents a philosophical investigation of the 'ordinary' vices traditionally seen as 'death to the soul': sloth, envy, avarice, pride, anger, lust, and gluttony. This complements recent work by moral philosophers on virtue, and opens up the neglected topic of the vices for further study. Whilst in a mild form the vices may be ordinary and common failings, Deadly Vices makes the case that for those wholly in their grip they are fatally destructive, preventing the flourishing of the self and of a worthwhile life. An agent therefore has a powerful reason to avoid such states and dispositions and rather to cultivate those virtues that counteract a deadly vice. In dealing with individual vices, their impact on the self, and their interrelation, Deadly Vices offers a unified account of the vices that not only encompasses the healing virtues but also engages with issues in the philosophy of mind as well as in moral philosophy, and shows the connection between them. Literary examples are used to highlight central features of individual vices and set them in context.

In this book, the author's discussion of pride, shame and guilt centres on the beliefs involved in the experience of any of these emotions. Through a detailed study, she shows how these beliefs are alike in that they are directed towards the self and its status, and how they differ in the specific view taken of the self. She illustrates the experience of these three emotions by examples taken from Engish literature. Unlike invented cases, these supply a a context and indicate the complexity of the web in which these emotions usually occur. An examination of integrity makes clear the relevant notion of the self and provides the sense in which some of the emotions of self-assessment are also moral emotions.