Coherence and Verification in Ethics

by Ellis, Ralph D.

• ISBN13: 9780819184108
• ISBN10: 0819184101
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-11-26
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

This book is an attempt to come to grips with problems of the epistemological basis of ethical beliefs by building on criticisms of approaches to this problem which have been attempted in the recent past. Because of the extensive discussions and criticism of these various alternatives, the book is useful to all who are concerned with the epistemology of ethics.

Table of Contents

The Verification Problem in Ethics	p. 1
Intuitions and Emotions	p. 1
Logical Positivism	p. 5
The received doctrines: emotivism and prescriptivism	p. 5
Modified positivism in combination with a coherence theory of verification	p. 11
The inadequacies of positivism	p. 13
Phenomenology	p. 17
The received doctrine: phenomenological reduction through imaginative variation	p. 17
Phenomenological intuitionism	p. 20
Phenomenological anthropologism	p. 23
Coherentism and Is-Ought Relations	p. 33
Comparative Coherentism and Factual Adequacy	p. 35
Can an 'ought' contradict an 'is'?	p. 38
Complications in the coherence criteria	p. 44
Must there be any value?	p. 52
The Elimination of Nihilism	p. 59
A brief review of criticisms of Gewirth	p. 59
The sense in which the value of consciousness is undeniable	p. 62
Cumulative Summary and Transition	p. 71
Metaethical Implications of Psychological Facts	p. 77
First Fact: The Motivation to Be Moral	p. 77
The Problem of Egoism	p. 79
Inadequacy of received solutions	p. 81
Toward a workable solution	p. 90
The Motivation for Altruism	p. 92
Consciousness must avoid stasis	p. 92
Consciousness requires symbolization and thus intersubjectivity	p. 99
Universalized altruism as the motivation to seek moral truth	p. 103
Second Fact: The Etiology of Personality	p. 109
Psychological Determinism	p. 112
Toward a relevant definition	p. 114
The argument	p. 116
Ethical Implications	p. 122
Compatibilism and the word 'can'	p. 122
To the real ethical matters: the concept of 'ought'	p. 127
The concept of 'desert'	p. 130
The concept of 'responsibility'	p. 135
Eliminations and Comparisons of Theories	p. 145
Ethical Questions With Definite Resolutions	p. 145
Definitions	p. 146
Problems in defining ethical terms	p. 146
Adequately comprehensive definitions of key terms	p. 155
Qualitative Value Questions	p. 162
Individual values	p. 173
Aggregate value	p. 174
Questions About the Source of Values	p. 181
Ethical Questions Requiring Comparative-Coherence Resolutions	p. 187
The Inevitability of Moral Conflict	p. 188
The Mathematicization of Value	p. 196
The Problem of the Value of Future Possible Conscious Beings	p. 205
The Mathematical Commensurability of the Values of Use Value Maximization and Deontic Fairness	p. 208
The Theoretical Incompleteness of the System	p. 218
Quantitative Questions About Duties and Oughts	p. 219
Conclusion	p. 227
Appendix	p. 231
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.