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Author Helo, Ari, author.

Title Thomas Jefferson's ethics and the politics of human progress : the morality of a slaveholder / Ari Helo
Published New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, [2014]
©2014

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 282 pages)
Series Cambridge Studies on the American South
Cambridge studies on the American South.
Contents Introduction to the morality of a slaveholder -- History, progress, and politics -- Progress in natural and moral sciences -- Progress and the wise man's virtue -- The perfectible rights of men -- Progressive politics
Summary Could Jefferson claim any consistency in his advocacy of democracy and the rights of man while remaining one of the largest slaveholders in Virginia? This extensive study of Jefferson's intellectual outlook suggests that, once we fully acknowledge the premises of his ethical thought and his now outdated scientific views, he could. Jefferson famously thought the human mind to be 'susceptible of much improvement ... most of all, in matters of government and religion'. Ari Helo's thorough analysis of Jefferson's understanding of Christian morality, atheism, contemporary theories of moral sentiments, ancient virtue ethics, natural rights, and the principles of justice and benevolence suggests that Jefferson refused to be a philosopher, and did so for moral reasons. This book finds Jefferson profoundly political in his understanding of individual moral responsibility and human progress
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-273) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 -- Relations with African Americans
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 -- Ethics
SUBJECT Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 fast
Subject Slavery -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States
Presidents -- United States -- Biography.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
Ethics
Presidents
Relations with African Americans
Slavery -- Moral and ethical aspects
United States
Genre/Form collective biographies.
Biographies
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781107417397
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