Ethics and Qualities of Life

by Kupperman, Joel J.

• ISBN13: 9780195308198
• ISBN10: 0195308190
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Ethics and Qualities of Life looks at what enters into ethical judgment and choice. Interpretation of a case and of what the options are is always a factor, as is a sense of the possible values at stake. Intuitions also enter in, but often are unreliable. For a long time it seemed only fairthat oldest sons inherited, and struck few people as unfair that women were not allowed to attend universities. A moral judgment is putatively part of a moral order in a society that any reasonable person would accept. But what counts as "reasonable" is generally contestable. The unreliability of intuitions leads naturally to ethical theory. Kantian, contractualist, and consequentialist theories all have some important truth in them, but not the whole truth. Contractualism lacks the resources required for a fully determinate account of what counts as "reasonable". Broadgeneral rules are important to Kant and are at the center of everyday morality. But can Kantian ethics explain why they have to have this central role? Our evolving social contract now contains elements (e.g. the rejection of racism and sexism) that once would have seemed counter-intuitive to mostpeople. But could consequentialists have predicted with entire confidence the consequences of social changes that we now think were desirable? The last part of this book contains a double argument. One is that ethical theory is employed by humans in a state of semi-ignorance of relevant factors,grasping at likely truths and evolved intuitions. The other is that consequentialist considerations have a major role at the fundamental level, but much more in justification or criticism than in ethical discovery.

Author Biography

Joel J. Kupperman is Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut, and the author of Classic Asian Philosophy (Oxford, second edition 2006), and Six Myths About the Good Life (2006), among other books.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 3
Factors in Ethical Judgment: From Atomistic Moral Decision to Goods, Construals, Character, and the Social Implications of Moral Judgments
Existential Choices and Dislocations	p. 13
Construals, Valencing	p. 23
The Relevance of Construal and Valencing to Good Choice	p. 37
The Importance of Character	p. 53
Personal Morality and Its Social Implications	p. 65
Steps to Theory	p. 79
Ethical Theory and Qualities of Life
The Bases of Ethical Theory	p. 97
The Need for a Moral Order	p. 111
The Logic of Consequentialism	p. 123
Some Difficulties of Consequentialism	p. 141
The Evolution of Ethical Theories	p. 154
A Modulated Case for the Primacy of Value	p. 165
Virtue Ethics	p. 183
Bibliography	p. 191
Index	p. 195
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