Foundations of Ethics An Anthology

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.

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).

Acknowledgments

ix

General Introduction

1

(6)

Part I Moral Ontology

7

(216)

1 Moral Error Theories

9

(26)

Introduction

9

(26)

1 The Subjectivity of Values

13

(10)

JOHN MACKIE

2 The Myth of Morality

23

(12)

RICHARD JOYCE

2 Expressivism

35

(44)

Introduction

35

(44)

3 Critique of Ethics and Theology

40

(7)

A.J. AYER

4 How To Be an Ethical Anti-Realist

47

(11)

SIMON BLACKBURN

5 Nondescriptivist Cognitivism: Framework for a New Metaethic

58

(13)

TERRY HORGAN AND MARK TIMMONS

6 The Reasons of a Living Being

71

(8)

ALLAN GIBBARD

3 Constructivism

79

(53)

Introduction

79

(41)

7 Moral Relativism Defended

84

(9)

GILBERT HARMAN

8 The Authority: of Reflection

93

(14)

CHRISTINE KORSGAARD

9 Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer

107

(13)

RODERICK FIRTH

10 Contractarian Constructivism

120

(12)

RONALD MILO

4 Sensibility Theories

132

(25)

Introduction

132

(5)

11 Values and Secondary Qualities

137

(6)

JOHN McDOWELL

12 A Sensible Subjectivism?

143

(14)

DAVID WIGGINS

5 Moral Realism

157

(66)

Introduction

157

(6)

13 How To Be a Moral Realist

163

(23)

RICHARD N. BOYD

14 Moral Realism

186

(20)

PETER RAILTON

15 The Authority of Reason

206

(4)

JEAN HAMPTON

16 Ethics as Philosophy: A Defense of Ethical Nonnaturalism

210

(15)

RUSS SHAVER-LANDAU

Part II Problems in Metaethics

223

1 Moral Motivation

225

(56)

Introduction

275

17 The Externalist Challenge

231

(12)

MICHAEL SMITH

18 Externalist Moral Motivation

243

(9)

NICK ZANGWILL

19 Virtue as Knowledge: Objections from the Philosophy of Mind

252

(13)

MARGARET OLIVIA LITTLE

20 Acting for a Good Reason

265

(16)

JONAYHAN DANCY

2 Moral Reasons

281

(47)

Introduction

281

(5)

21 Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives

286

(6)

PHILIPPA FOOT

22 Internal and External Reasons

292

(7)

BERNARD WILLIAMS

23 Skepticism about Practical Reason

299

(13)

CHRISTINE KORSGAARD

24 Moral Reasons

312

(16)

RUSS SHAFER-LANDAU

3 Moral Explanations

328

(39)

Introduction

328

(5)

25 Ethics and Observation

333

(4)

GILBERT HARMAN

26 Moral Explanations

337

(16)

NICHOLAS L. STURGEON

27 Moral Facts as Configuring Causes

353

(14)

TERENCE CUNEO

4 Moral Disagreement

367

(16)

Introduction

367

(4)

28 The Nature of Ethical Disagreement

371

(5)

CHARLES L. STEVENSON

29 Moral Disagreement

376

(7)

DAVID BRINK

5 Moral Knowledge

383

(50)

Introduction

383

(6)

30 Wide Reflective Equilibrium and Theory Acceptance in Ethics

389

(13)

NORMAN DANIELS

31 Intuitionism, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Ethics

402

(18)

ROBERT AUDI

32 Seeing and Caring: The Role of Affect in Feminist Moral Epistemology

420

(13)

MARGARET OLIVIA LITTLE

6 Moral Supervenience

433

(22)

Introduction

433

(5)

33 Supervenience Revisited

438

(11)

SIMON BLACKBURN

34 The Supervenience of the Ethical on the Descriptive

449

(6)

FRANK JACKSON

7 Semantic Puzzles

455

Introduction

455

(10)

35 The Subject-Matter of Ethics

465

(9)

G.E. MOORE

36 Attitudes and Contents

474

(11)

SIMON BLACKBURN

37 Expressivism and Embedding

485

(10)

WALTER SINNOTT-ARMSTRONG

38 New Wave Moral Realism Meets Moral Twin Earth

495

TERRY HORGAN AND MARK TIMMONS

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Foundations of Ethics An Anthology

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Author Biography

Table of Contents

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