The Ethics Of Renunciation

Its Nature And Justification

Abstract

The article analyses the concept of the ethics of renunciation, distinguishing external renunciation – the voluntary abandonment of a desired good – from internal renunciation, which consists in extinguishing desire itself. Elzenberg systematizes the axiological justifications of the imperative of renunciation, identifying five basic reasons: the badness of the object, possession, pursuit, or desire, and the positive value of renunciation itself.