Moral Vision An Introduction to Ethics

by McNaughton, David

• ISBN13: 9780631159452
• ISBN10: 0631159452
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-01-08
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book introduces the reader to ethics by examining a current and important debate. During the last fifty years the orthodox position in ethics has been a broadly non-cognitivist one: since there are no moral facts, moral remarks are best understood, not as attempting to describe the world, but as having some other function - such as expressing the attitudes or preferences of the speaker. In recent years this position has been increasingly challenged by moral realists who maintain that there are moral facts; there is a truth of the matter in ethics, which is independent of our views, and which we seek to discover. Unfortunately much of this interesting debate found in the work of McDowell, Wiggins, Putnam, Blackburn and others is not easily accessible to undergraduates. McNaughton presents many of the major issues in ethics by way of a clear exposition of both sides of this argument and assumes no prior knowledge of philosophy. Topics discussed include: moral observation, moral motivation, amoralism and wickedness, moral weakness, cultural relativism and utilitarianism. The book concludes that a convincing case can be made out for a radical form of moral realism in which moral virtue is found, not in the following of correct moral principles, but rather in the development of moral sensitivity. Moral Vision is a clear and engaged introduction to an important, and often troubling, debate.

Author Biography

David McNaughton is Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University.

Table of Contents

Preface

ntroduction

Morality: Invention or Discovery?

Moral Non-Cognitivism: An Outline

Moral Realism: An Outline

Non-Cognitivism: Further Developments

Realism and Reality

The State of the Debate: An Interim Report

Moral Motivation

Moral Weakness

Amoralism and Wickedness

Moral Realism and Cultural Diversity

Non-cognitivism and Utilitarianism

Quasi-Realism

Principles or Particularism?

eferences

ndex

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