Self-Transcendence and Virtue

<p>Recent research in the humanities and social sciences suggests that individuals who understand themselves as belonging to something greater than the self—a family community or religious or spiritual group—often feel happier have a deeper sense of purpose or meaning in their lives and have overall better life outcomes than those who do not. Some positive and personality psychologists have labeled this location of the self within a broader perspective self-transcendence. This book presents and integrates new interdisciplinary research into virtue happiness and the meaning of life by re-orienting these discussions around the concept of self-transcendence.</p><p>The essays are organized around three broad themes connected to self-transcendence. First they investigate how self-transcendence helps us to understand aspects of the moral life as it is studied within psychology including the development of wisdom the practice of moral praise and psychological well-being. Second they explore how self-transcendence is linked to virtue in different religious and spiritual traditions including Judaism Islam Christianity Buddhism and Confucianism. Finally they ask how self-transcendence can help us theorize about Aristotelean and Thomist conceptions of virtue like hope and piety and how this helps us to re-conceptualize happiness and meaning in life.</p>