Principled Ethics Generalism As a Regulative Ideal

by McKeever, Sean; Ridge, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780199290659
• ISBN10: 0199290652
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-06-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Moral philosophy has long been dominated by the aim of understanding morality and the virtues in terms of principles. However, the underlying assumption that this is the best approach has received almost no defence, and has been attacked by particularists, who argue that the traditional link between morality and principles is little more than an unwarranted prejudice. In Principled Ethics, Michael Ridge and Sean McKeever meet the particularist challenge head-on, and defend a distinctive view they call "generalism as a regulative ideal."

Author Biography

Sean McKeever is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Davidson College, North Carolina Michael Ridge is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh

Table of Contents

Part I. The Particularist Challenge	1	(112)
1 Many Moral Particularisms	3	(22)
2 Holism about Reasons	25	(21)
3 Default Reasons	46	(30)
4 Moral Vision	76	(18)
5 Constitutive Generalism	94	(19)
Part II. The Case for Generalism as a Regulative Ideal
6 From Moral Knowledge to Default Principles	113	(25)
7 Beyond Default Principles: Trimming the Hedges	138	(39)
8 Generalism as a Regulative Ideal	177	(19)
9 Principled Guidance	196	(28)
Appendix: 'That's It'	224	(4)
Bibliography	228	(7)
Index	235