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Article
On Willing Surrender as Virtuous Self-Constitution
Consecutio Rerum. Anno
  • Bennett B. Gilbert, Portland State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Subjects
  • Moral Epistemology,
  • Moral Demonstration,
  • Morality
Disciplines
Abstract

Our cultural situation is to seek a moral form of self-constitution, rather than an ontological or epistemological foundation. Such a moral ground lies in the paradox of willing surrender of the will to do wrong or dysfunctional acts in order to enter temporally-extended processes of moral change. But the paradox of willing surrender of the will requires analysis. The propositional form of it cannot be sustained and must instead give way to willingness as an ongoing choice. The self-reflexivity of the will with which we accomplish this turns out to be a core activity of human activity that seeks openness to moral growth through humility. The paper suggests that self-constitution in this manner this is what freedom is for us and is therefore the source of our hope.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2024 The Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI
10.5281/zenodo.10283854
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41055
Citation Information
Gilbert, B. (2024). On Willing Surrender as Virtuous Self-Constitution.