293pp. '1' present in number line. Charcoal cloth with brilliant gilt-stamped lettering on spine; gold endpapers; tight spine, sharp corners. White dustwrapper not price-clipped ($26.95), with color photo-portrait, at foot of front cover, of two parrots "communicating"; tiny tear at top left front cover edge (1 1/4" to right of gutter; with consequent 1 3/8" x 1/8" ruffling--now backed by archival tape); bump to top right corner front cover, but book is still essentially square: describes worse than it is: book looks very much unused: tight spine, sharp corners. No previous owner names. Clean text.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: The Virtues of Our Vices: A Modest Defense of Gossip, Rudeness, and Other Bad Habits
Publisher: Princeton University Press, U.S.A.
Publication Date: 2012
Language: English
ISBN 10: 0691141991
ISBN 13: 9780691141992
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

The hidden value of some of our everyday vices

Are there times when it's right to be rude? Can we distinguish between good and bad gossip? Am I a snob if I think that NPR listeners are likely to be better informed than devotees of Fox News? Does sick humor do anyone any good? Can I think your beliefs are absurd but still respect you?

In The Virtues of Our Vices, philosopher Emrys Westacott takes a fresh look at important everyday ethical questions―and comes up with surprising answers. He makes a compelling argument that some of our most common vices―rudeness, gossip, snobbery, tasteless humor, and disrespect for others' beliefs―often have hidden virtues or serve unappreciated but valuable purposes. For instance, there are times when rudeness may be necessary to help someone with a problem or to convey an important message. Gossip can foster intimacy between friends and curb abuses of power. And dubious humor can alleviate existential anxieties.

Engaging, funny, and philosophically sophisticated, The Virtues of Our Vices challenges us to rethink conventional wisdom when it comes to everyday moral behavior.

About the Author

Emrys Westacott is professor of philosophy at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. His work has been featured in the New York Times and has appeared in the Philosopher's Magazine, Philosophy Now, the Humanist, the Philosophical Forum, and many other publications. He is also the coauthor of Thinking through Philosophy: An Introduction.

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Store Description

Retired academic's reference library with specialization in philosophy, religion, science, and mathematics--all scholarly subject areas; Pre-Socratics to contemporary; biographies; some series collections. General stock also, including fiction, poetry, literary criticism, mysteries, some foreign language, children's, history, sociology, psychology, education. Some signed copies.

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