Foundations of Ethics An Anthology

by Shafer-Landau, Russ; Cuneo, Terence

• ISBN13: 9781405129510
• ISBN10: 1405129514
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-02
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Foundations of Ethics presents the reader with a collection of seminal articles covering the complex components of metaethics, which seek to provide a philosophical account of the standards of morality. Broken into two parts, this text first devotes itself to investigating ontological views, following up with discussions on other related topics. Raising questions about the validity of moral judgment, the difference between ethics and natural science, and the practicality of ethics, this volume provides an extensive selection of primary sources and expert commentary for students of ethical theory.

Author Biography

Russ Shafer-Landau is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Whatever Happened to Good and Evil? (2003) and Moral Realism: A Defence (2005). He is the editor of Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Volume 1 (2006) and Ethical Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell, 2007).

Terence Cuneo is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College. He works primarily in the areas of ethics and the history of philosophy. He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Reid (with René van Woudenberg, 2004), editor of Religion in the Liberal Polity (2005), and author of The Normative Web: An Argument for Moral Realism (2007).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
General Introduction	1	(6)
Part I Moral Ontology	7	(216)
Moral Error Theories	9	(26)
Introduction	9	(4)
The Subjectivity of Values	13	(10)
John Mackie
The Myth of Morality	23	(12)
Richard Joyce
Expressivism	35	(44)
Introduction	35	(5)
Critique of Ethics and Theology	40	(7)
A.J. Ayer
How To Be an Ethical Anti-Realist	47	(11)
Simon Blackburn
Nondescriptivist Cognitivism: Framework for a New Metaethic	58	(13)
Terry Horgan
Mark Timmons
The Reasons of a Living Being	71	(8)
Allan Gibbard
Constructivism	79	(53)
Introduction	79	(5)
Moral Relativism Defended	84	(9)
Gilbert Harman
The Authority of Reflection	93	(14)
Christine Korsgaard
Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer	107	(13)
Roderick Firth
Contractarian Constructivism	120	(12)
Ronald Milo
Sensibility Theories	132	(25)
Introduction	132	(5)
Values and Secondary Qualities	137	(8)
John McDowell
A Sensible Subjectivism?	145	(12)
David Wiggins
Moral Realism	157	(66)
Introduction	157	(6)
How To Be a Moral Realist	163	(23)
Richard N. Boyd
Moral Realism	186	(20)
Peter Railton
The Authority of Reason	206	(4)
Jean Hampton
Ethics as Philosophy: A Defense of Ethical Nonnaturalism	210	(13)
Russ Shafer-Landau
Part II Problems in Metaethics	223	(272)
Moral Motivation	225	(56)
Introduction	225	(6)
The Externalist Challenge	231	(12)
Michael Smith
Externalist Moral Motivation	243	(9)
Nick Zangwill
Virtue as Knowledge: Objections from the Philosophy of Mind	252	(13)
Margaret Olivia Little
Acting for a Good Reason	265	(16)
Jonathan Dancy
Moral Reasons	281	(47)
Introduction	281	(5)
Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives	286	(6)
Philippa Foot
Internal and External Reasons	292	(7)
Bernard Williams
Skepticism about Practical Reason	299	(13)
Christine Korsgaard
Moral Reasons	312	(16)
Russ Shafer-Landau
Moral Explanations	328	(39)
Introduction	328	(5)
Ethics and Observation	333	(4)
Gilbert Harman
Moral Explanations	337	(16)
Nicholas L. Sturgeon
Moral Facts as Configuring Causes	353	(14)
Terence Cuneo
Moral Disagreement	367	(16)
Introduction	367	(4)
The Nature of Ethical Disagreement	371	(5)
Charles L. Stevenson
Moral Disagreement	376	(7)
David Brink
Moral Knowledge	383	(50)
Introduction	383	(6)
Wide Reflective Equilibrium and Theory Acceptance in Ethics	389	(13)
Norman Daniels
Intuitionism, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Ethics	402	(18)
Robert Audi
Seeing and Caring: The Role of Affect in Feminist Moral Epistemology	420	(13)
Margaret Olivia Little
Moral Supervenience	433	(22)
Introduction	433	(5)
Supervenience Revisited	438	(11)
Simon Blackburn
The Supervenience of the Ethical on the Descriptive	449	(6)
Frank Jackson
Semantic Puzzles	455	(40)
Introduction	455	(10)
The Subject-Matter of Ethics	465	(9)
G. E. Moore
Attitudes and Contents	474	(11)
Simon Blackburn
Expressivism and Embedding	485	(10)
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
New Wave Moral Realism Meets Moral Twin Earth	495
Terry Horgan
Mark Timmons