Trouble with Strangers. A Study of Ethics

Written in Eagleton's very readable, clear and witty style, this book may achieve the unthinkable: bridging the gap between academic High Thought and popular philosophy manuals." Slavoj i ek "... An engagement with the whole modern European tradition of thought about ethics, drawing on both philosophical and literary texts, and paying close attention to shifting cultural currents and historical contexts. The insights are often sharp, and the criticisms both pointed and - usually - laced with humour" Peter Dews, University of Essex "This is a fine book. It is hugely ambitious in its scope, develops an original thesis to illuminating effect and is written with a compelling passion and commitment" Peter R. Sedgwick, Cardiff University "Written with Eagleton's usual wit, panache and uncanny ability to summarise and criticize otherwise complex philosophical positions ... this is an important book by a hugely important voice" Simon Critchley, The New School for Social Research
In this major new book, Terry Eagleton, one of the worldâ??s greatest cultural theorists, writes with wit, eloquence and clarity on the question of ethics. Providing rare insights into tragedy, politics, literature, morality and religion, Eagleton examines key ethical theories through the framework of Jacques Lacanâ??s categories of the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real, measuring them against the â??richerâ?? ethical resources of socialism and the Judaeoâ??Christian tradition.
a major new book from Terry Eagleton, one of the worldâ??s greatest cultural theorists investigates ethical theories from Aristotle to Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek engages with the whole modern European tradition of thought about ethics brings together personal and political ethics and makes a passionate case for political love

Preface.
Part I: The Insistence of the Imaginary.
Introduction: The Mirror Stage.
1. Sentiment and Sensibility.
2. Francis Hutcheson and David Hume.
3. Edmund Burke and Adam Smith.
Part II: The Sovereignty of the Symbolic.
Introduction: The Symbolic Order.
4. Spinoza and the Death of Desire.
5. Kant and the Moral Law.
6. Law and Desire in Measure for Measure.
Part III: The Reign of the Real.
Introduction: Pure Desire.
7. Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
8. Fictions of the Real.
9 . Levinas, Derrida and Badiou.
10. The Banality of Goodness.
Conclusion.
Index