Contemporary Metaethics

Author : Alexander Miller
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2014-02-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780745680514

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Contemporary Metaethics by Alexander Miller Pdf

This new edition of Alexander Miller’s highly readable introduction to contemporary metaethics provides a critical overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth- and twenty-first-century contemporary metaethics. Miller traces the development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent arguments between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and non-cognitivism. From Moore’s attack on ethical naturalism, A. J. Ayer’s emotivism and Simon Blackburn’s quasi-realism to anti-realist and best opinion accounts of moral truth and the non-reductionist naturalism of the ‘Cornell realists’, this book addresses all the key theories and ideas in this field. As well as revisiting the whole terrain with revised and updated guides to further reading, Miller also introduces major new sections on the revolutionary fictionalism of Richard Joyce and the hermeneutic fictionalism of Mark Kalderon. The new edition will continue to be essential reading for students, teachers and professional philosophers with an interest in contemporary metaethics.

Author : Mark van Roojen
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-06-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317448693

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Metaethics by Mark van Roojen Pdf

Metaethics: A Contemporary Introduction provides a solid foundation in metaethics for advanced undergraduates by introducing a series of puzzles that most metaethical theories address. These puzzles involve moral disagreement, reference, moral epistemology, metaphysics, and moral psychology. From there, author Mark van Roojen discusses the many positions in metaethics that people will take in reaction to these puzzles. Van Roojen asks several essential questions of his readers, namely: What is metaethics? Why study it? How does one discuss metaethics, given its inherently controversial nature? Each chapter closes with questions, both for reading comprehension and further discussion, and annotated suggestions for further reading.

Author : Catherine Wilson
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2016-01-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781783742011

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Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint by Catherine Wilson Pdf

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming. Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest.

Author : Andrew Fisher
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2014-12-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317491811

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Metaethics by Andrew Fisher Pdf

Do moral facts exist? What would they be like if they did? What does it mean to say that a moral claim is true? What is the link between moral judgement and motivation? Can we know whether something is right and wrong? Is morality a fiction? Metaethics: An Introduction presents a very clear and engaging survey of the key concepts and positions in what has become one of the most exciting and influential fields of philosophy. Free from technicality and jargon, the book covers the main ideas that have shaped metaethics from the work of G. E. Moore to the latest thinking. Written specifically for beginning students, the book assumes no prior philosophical knowledge. The book highlights ways to avoid common errors, offers hints and tips on learning the subject, includes a glossary of core terms, and provides guidance for further study.

Author : Tristram McPherson,David Plunkett
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 698 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781351817912

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The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics by Tristram McPherson,David Plunkett Pdf

This Handbook surveys the contemporary state of the burgeoning field of metaethics. Forty-four chapters, all written exclusively for this volume, provide expert introductions to: the central research programs that frame metaethical discussions the central explanatory challenges, resources, and strategies that inform contemporary work in those research programs debates over the status of metaethics, and the appropriate methods to use in metaethical inquiry This is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in metaethics, from those coming to it for the first time to those actively pursuing research in the field.

Author : Alexander Miller
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Ethics
ISBN : OCLC:1150057102

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An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics by Alexander Miller Pdf

Author : Alex Miller
Publisher : Polity
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2003-10-20
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 074562345X

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An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics by Alex Miller Pdf

This introduction provides a highly readable critical overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth-century and contemporary metaethics. It traces the development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent arguments between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and non-cognitivism. A highly readable critical overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth century and contemporary metaethics. Asks: Are there moral facts? Is there such a thing as moral truth? Is moral knowledge possible? Traces the development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent debates between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and noncognitivism. Provides for the first time a critical survey of famous figures in twentieth century metaethics such as Moore, Ayer and Mackie together with in-depth discussions of contemporary philosophers such as Blackburn, Gibbard, Wright, Harman, Railton, Sturgeon, McDowell and Wiggins.

Author : Colin Marshall
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2019-10-10
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780429787164

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Comparative Metaethics by Colin Marshall Pdf

This collection of original essays explores metaethical views from outside the mainstream European tradition. The guiding motivation is that important discussions about the ultimate nature of morality can be found far beyond ancient Greece and modern Europe. The volume’s aim is to show how rich the possibilities are for comparative metaethics, and how much these comparisons offer challenges and new perspectives to contemporary analytic metaethics. Representing five continents, the thinkers discussed range from ancient Egyptian, ancient Chinese, and the Mexican (Aztec) cultures to more recent thinkers like Augusto Salazar Bondy, Bimal Krishna Matilal, Nishida Kitarō, and Susan Sontag. The philosophical topics discussed include religious language, moral discovery, moral disagreement, essences’ relation to evaluative facts, metaphysical harmony and moral knowledge, naturalism, moral perception, and quasi-realism. This volume will be of interest to anyone interested in metaethics or comparative philosophy.

Author : Terence Horgan,Terry Horgan,Mark Timmons
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2006-01-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199269907

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Metaethics After Moore by Terence Horgan,Terry Horgan,Mark Timmons Pdf

Metaethics is concerned to answer second-order non-moral questions about the semantics, metaphysics, and epistemology of moral thought and discourse and is often traced to G.E. Moore work. These essays represent the most up to date work in the field, after and in some cases directly inspired by Moore.

Author : Guy Fletcher,Michael Ridge
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2014-10-28
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199347599

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Having It Both Ways by Guy Fletcher,Michael Ridge Pdf

A recent trend in metaethics has been to reject the apparent choice between pure cognitivism, where moral (and other normative) judgments are understood as representational or belief-like states, and pure non-cognitivism, where they are understood as non-representational or desire-like states. Rather, philosophers have adopted views which seek in some way to combine the strengths of each side while avoiding the standard problems for each. Some such views claim that moral judgments are complexes of belief-like and desire-like components. Other views claim that normative language serves both to ascribe properties and to express desire-like attitudes. This collection of twelve new essays examines the prospects for such 'hybrid views' of normative thought and language. The papers, which focus mainly on moral thought and talk, provide a guide to this debate while also pushing it forward along numerous fronts.

Author : Peg O’Connor
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2015-11-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780271056586

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Morality and Our Complicated Form of Life by Peg O’Connor Pdf

Moral philosophy, like much of philosophy generally, has been bedeviled by an obsession with seeking secure epistemological foundations and with dichotomies between mind and body, fact and value, subjectivity and objectivity, nature and normativity. These are still alive today in the realism-versus-antirealism debates in ethics. Peg O'Connor draws inspiration from the later Wittgenstein's philosophy to sidestep these pitfalls and develop a new approach to the grounding of ethics (i.e., metaethics) that looks to the interconnected nature of social practices, most especially those that Wittgenstein called “language games.” These language games provide structure and stability to our moral lives while they permit the flexibility to accommodate change in moral understandings and attitudes. To this end, O'Connor deploys new metaphors from architecture and knitting to describe her approach as “felted stabilism,” which locates morality in a large set of overlapping and crisscrossing language games such as engaging in moral inquiry, seeking justifications for our beliefs and actions, formulating reasons for actions, making judgments, disagreeing with other people or dissenting from dominant norms, manifesting moral understandings, and taking and assigning responsibility.

Author : Diana Heney
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2016-05-20
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317280361

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Toward a Pragmatist Metaethics by Diana Heney Pdf

In our current social landscape, moral questions—about economic disparity, disadvantaging biases, and scarcity—are rightly receiving attention with a sense of urgency. This book argues that classical pragmatism offers a compelling and useful account of our engagement with moral life. The key arguments are first, that a broader reading of the pragmatist tradition than is usually attempted within the context of ethical theory is necessary; and second, that this broad reading offers resources that enable us to move forward in contemporary debates about truth and principles in moral life. The first argument is made by demonstrating that there is an arc of theoretical unity that stretches from two key founders of pragmatism—Charles Sanders Peirce and William James—through the work of John Dewey and Clarence Irving Lewis. The second argument is made by engaging with contemporary debates concerning the truth-status of the judgments and assertions made in ordinary moral discourse, as well as the role and nature of moral principles. Toward a Pragmatist Metaethics will be of interest to scholars of American philosophy, American intellectual history, and moral and political theorists, as well as anyone interested in the contours and demands of shared moral discourse.

Author : David Emmanuel Rowe
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2019-10-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781498579940

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A Nietzschean Metaethics by David Emmanuel Rowe Pdf

This book develops a novel interpretation of the late-nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as holding a distinct and original metaethical position (a theory about our practice of ethics). David Emannuel Rowe characterizes it as a human-centered metaethics. A central achievement of A Nietzschean Metaethics is to bring Nietzsche into a conversation with the analytic metaethical tradition. To do so, Rowe interprets Nietzsche’s use of such concepts as the notorious “will to power”; his ideal agent, the superman or Übermensch; nihilism; the eternal recurrence; Perspectivism; and Being and Becoming. The result is a view of Nietzsche as a radical moral error theorist, which is to say he defends the view that all statements that appeal to some value for their truth are false. This theory is radical because Nietzsche argues that insofar as language requires certain concepts for its truth it is in error, in virtue of an appeal to some value. Rowe also offers a view where the increase in one’s power is a standard by which one can make sense of Nietzsche’s so-called re-evaluation of all values. By means of this resolution, Nietzsche criticizes some contemporary themes in metaethics, such as particular views about moral motivation, reasons, moral error theory, and agency.

Author : James Fieser
Publisher : Cengage Learning
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Ethics
ISBN : 0534573843

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Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics by James Fieser Pdf

METAETHICS, NORMATIVE ETHICS, AND APPLIED ETHICS: CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL READINGS is the first ethics reader to include the three major areas of ethical study: theory, moral problems, and applied ethics. This collection of the most notable essays on ethics past and present also includes newly edited pieces, revised versions, and several essays that were written specifically for this volume.

Author : David Fisher
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2011-03-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780191615825

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Morality and War by David Fisher Pdf

With the ending of the strategic certainties of the Cold War, the need for moral clarity over when, where and how to start, conduct and conclude war has never been greater. There has been a recent revival of interest in the just war tradition. But can a medieval theory help us answer twenty-first century security concerns? David Fisher explores how just war thinking can and should be developed to provide such guidance. His in-depth study examines philosophical challenges to just war thinking, including those posed by moral scepticism and relativism. It explores the nature and grounds of moral reasoning; the relation between public and private morality; and how just war teaching needs to be refashioned to provide practical guidance not just to politicians and generals but to ordinary service people. The complexity and difficulty of moral decision-making requires a new ethical approach - here characterised as virtuous consequentialism - that recognises the importance of both the internal quality and external effects of agency; and of the moral principles and virtues needed to enact them. Having reinforced the key tenets of just war thinking, Fisher uses these to address contemporary security issues, including the changing nature of war, military pre-emption and torture, the morality of the Iraq war, and humanitarian intervention. He concludes that the just war tradition provides not only a robust but an indispensable guide to resolve the security challenges of the twenty-first century.