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Susan Wolf's 'Is Your Limits Of Morality Out Of Place'

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Is Your Limits of Morality out of Place by Alex Prindle

In Moral Saints from the Journal of Philosophy by Susan Wolf, the author argues that moral saints are by definition “patient, considerate, even-tempered, hospitable, and charitable in thought as well as in deed”. Wolf also states that moral saints do not care about pleasing themselves, but only in pleasing others. I do not find this definition to be all encompassing of what morality really means. In other words, I disagree with her definition on morality because her definition is too restricted. In this paper, I will explain Susan Wolf’s view on morality, agree with her views that no-one should aspire to be her own definition of a moral saint, but I will disagree with her definition …show more content…

Susan Wolf believes that the definition of morality has to do with one committing selfless acts for others while remaining non-offensive, unable to be cynical, or unable to be humorous. Moral saints do not fulfill their dreams, or goals that they set for themselves and only for themselves, because they are too busy helping others or would rather selflessly benefit others. For example, If a moral saint wanted to be a good cook, Susan Wolf believes that they wouldn’t fulfill this dream unless it was for a cause, per say, cooking for the orphanage, or the soup …show more content…

The author and I share the same perspective on how a person can live a good life without focusing all of their energies and efforts into helping others while remaining thoughtful and impartial their entire life. Someone without hobbies or without personal ambitions is certainly missing out on an important part of life and while it can make a person happy to be able to help others, it also is important to find ways to make yourself more well rounded and interesting. Plus, if a moral saint is living only to serve others, then what happens when someone turns their back on them after the moral saint offers their help? Then are they living to help others, or do their moral actions serve no purpose? Also, is the particular moral saint being moral out of the love for helping others, or because he or she will receive praise for their particular actions? This brings me to Susan Wolf’s separation between the two types of moral saints: the loving saint, and the rational saint. Wolf describes loving saints as those who sacrifice their own self-interests but do not see this sacrifice as a true sacrifice because they enjoy being a morally just person. They see moral sainthood as a way of living and technically feel happy with not doing anything for themselves but instead just purely helping others. The other type of moral saint is Wolf’s

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