Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory

by Dreier, James

• ISBN13: 9781405101783
• ISBN10: 1405101784
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-09
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Eight central questions shape the volume, with each question sparking a pair of opposing essays, summarizing the most important and forceful grounds of each position. Together, the essays provide an accessible introduction to the major topics in contemporary moral theory.

Author Biography

James Dreier is Professor of Philosophy at Brown University. He works mainly in meta-ethics, and has published articles on relativism, expressivism, moral realism, practical rationality, decision theory, and the structure of normative theories.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	p. vii
Introduction	p. x
Normative Theory	p. 1
Is the Rightness of Action Determined by the Value of Consequences?	p. 3
The Consequentialist Perspective	p. 5
Against Maximizing Act Consequentialism	p. 21
Reasons Without Demands: Rethinking Rightness	p. 38
Can Contract Theory Ground Morality?	p. 55
Moral Contractarianism as a Foundation for Interpersonal Morality	p. 57
Can Contract Theory Ground Morality?	p. 77
Are the Virtues the Proper Starting Point for Ethical Theory?	p. 97
Are Virtues the Proper Starting Point for Morality?	p. 99
Virtue Theory	p. 113
Reason and Motivation	p. 125
Are Moral Requirements Derived from Reason?	p. 127
Reason, Sentiment, and Categorical Imperatives	p. 129
Must We Weep for Sentimentalism?	p. 144
Is Motivation Internal to Moral Judgment?	p. 161
How Do Moral Judgments Motivate?	p. 163
Moral Motivation	p. 182
Moral Facts and Explanations	p. 197
Is Morality Fully Factual?	p. 199
Moral Factualism	p. 201
Morality Without Moral Facts	p. 220
Do Moral Facts and Properties Explain Anything?	p. 239
Moral Explanations Defended	p. 241
Moral Epistemology and the Because Constraint	p. 263
Are There General Moral Principles?	p. 283
Ethical Generality and Moral Judgment	p. 285
Defending Moral Particularism	p. 305
Index of Subjects	p. 323
Index of Names	p. 330
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