Moral Reality

by Bloomfield, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780195172393
• ISBN10: 0195172396
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

We typically assume that the standard for what is beautiful lies in the eye of the beholder. Yet this is not the case when we consider morality; what we deem morally good is not usually a matter of opinion. Such thoughts push us toward being realists about moral properties, but a cogent theory of moral realism has long been an elusive philosophical goal. Paul Bloomfield here offers a rigorous defense of moral realism, developing an ontology for morality that models the property of being morally good on the property of being physically healthy. The model is assembled systematically; it first presents the metaphysics of healthiness and goodness, then explains our epistemic access to properties such as these, adds a complementary analysis of the semantics and syntax of moral discourse, and finishes with a discussion of how we become motivated to act morally. Bloomfield closely attends to the traditional challenges facing moral realism, and the discussion nimbly ranges from modern medical theory to ancient theories of virtue, and from animal navigation to the nature of normativity. Maintaining a highly readable style throughout, Moral Reality yields one of the most compelling theories of moral realism to date and will appeal to philosophers working on issues in metaphysics or moral philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Protrepticus	3	(3)
A Modest Transcendental Argument for Moral Realism	3	(20)
Four Riddles	23	(2)
Moral Metaphysics: Reality Unobserved	25	(31)
The Thesis	25	(4)
A Primer on Being Healthy	29	(4)
Healthiness, Conventions, and Relativism	33	(5)
Healthiness and Goodness	38	(5)
Supervenience and Reduction	43	(5)
Blackburn's Challenge to Moral Realism via Supervenience	48	(8)
Moral Epistemology: The Skill of Virtue	56	(47)
Outline for the Logos of Skillful Practice	60	(14)
Medical, Navigational, and Moral Theories	74	(14)
Stubborn Disagreement in Face of the Facts	88	(4)
Aristotle's Rejection of Virtues as Skills	92	(11)
Moral Language: The ``Good'' Rules	103	(50)
Following the Linguistic Turn	103	(5)
Semantics	108	(20)
Syntax	128	(25)
Moral Practicality: Externalism sans Magnetism	153	(26)
The Absurdity of Magnetic Tofu	153	(3)
Intuitions behind Internalism	156	(3)
Hume and Williams Meet Thrasymachus	159	(5)
Kant, Nagel, and Korsgaard Meet Anscombe	164	(6)
A Little Bit of Jimmy Carter in All of Us?	170	(9)
Appendix: Entropy, Healthiness, and Goodness	179	(16)
Bibliography	195	(10)
Index	205