Power, pleasure, and profit

Power, pleasure, and profit

By David Wootton

Book Description

In our modern world, the relentless pursuit of power, pleasure, and profit feels like an unchangeable aspect of human nature. We calculate costs and benefits, measure success through achievement, and navigate life through instrumental reasoning. Yet as David Wootton reveals in this illuminating exploration, this mindset is neither natural nor inevitable—it represents a profound transformation in how humanity understands itself and its purpose.

Wootton takes readers on a fascinating journey through four centuries of Western intellectual history, from Machiavelli to Madison, uncovering how a revolutionary shift in thinking reshaped civilization. As religious conflicts and scientific discoveries challenged traditional frameworks, the established systems of Aristotelian ethics and Christian morality began to crumble. Into this void stepped new philosophies that prioritized rational self-interest over virtue and honor.

Through the works of influential thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, and Adam Smith, Wootton demonstrates how instrumental reasoning emerged as the dominant force shaping human behavior. This transformation proved to be a double-edged development. While it dismantled rigid hierarchies and enabled movements toward liberty and equality, it also created a world where success often matters more than character, and where concepts like virtue, honor, and shame have lost much of their guiding power.

For those seeking to understand the spiritual and ethical foundations of contemporary life, this work offers profound insights into how we arrived at our current crossroads.

Who Is This For?

📖 Reading Level: Medium (200-400 pages) (~11 hours)

📄 Length: 386 pages

What You'll Discover

  • ✓ Explore timeless philosophical wisdom
  • ✓ Explore Power (social sciences)
  • ✓ Explore Conduct of life
  • ✓ Explore Ambition
  • ✓ Learn about the path to enlightenment
  • ✓ Explore Power (Social sciences)
  • ✓ Explore Pleasure
  • ✓ Explore Social

Topics Covered

Ethics & Moral Philosophy Power (social sciences) Conduct of life Ambition Enlightenment Power (Social sciences) Pleasure Social PHILOSOPHY POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory Profit Values History

Related Books You Might Like

Cover of Ethnography of Moralities (European Association of Social Anthropologists), The

Ethnography of Moralities (European Association of Social Anthropologists), The

Signe Howell

1997 • 234p

This scholarly exploration delves into one of humanity's most fundamental questions: how do different cultures construct their understanding of right and wrong? Drawing from the field of social anthropology, this work examines the intricate ways soci...
Cover of Way Of Improvement Leads Home Philip Vickers Fithian And The Rural Enlightenment In Early America, The

Way Of Improvement Leads Home Philip Vickers Fithian And The Rural Enlightenment In Early America, The

John Fea

2009 • 280p

In an era when personal transformation seemed both possible and necessary, one young man's journey reveals the timeless tension between ambition and belonging. Philip Vickers Fithian emerged from the grain fields of rural New Jersey with an unshakeab...
Cover of Bioethics: The Basics

Bioethics: The Basics

Alastair V. Campbell

2013 • 200p

In an age where medical advances and biological discoveries reshape our understanding of life itself, the ethical questions surrounding these developments have never been more pressing. This accessible introduction guides readers through the complex...
Cover of 'Religion' and the religions in the English Enlightenment

'Religion' and the religions in the English Enlightenment

Peter Harrison

1990 • 277p

How did our modern understanding of "religion" come to be? This scholarly exploration reveals the fascinating origins of concepts we now take for granted, tracing their emergence through the intellectual ferment of seventeenth and eighteenth-century...
Cover of Debatten um die Bibel

Debatten um die Bibel

Valentin Wendebourg

2020 • 351p

How do we reconcile the Bible's claim to be sacred scripture with the rigorous demands of historical criticism? Valentin Wendebourg explores this fundamental tension through a fascinating examination of biblical debates that transformed European reli...
Cover of Die Bibel, das Christentum und die Aufklärung

Die Bibel, das Christentum und die Aufklärung

Christoph Markschies

2019 • 334p

This scholarly collection brings together twenty illuminating lectures that explore the intricate relationship between biblical tradition, Christian faith, and the transformative period of Enlightenment thinking. Delivered by distinguished theologian...