Ethics

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Authority and relativism......Page 16
The idea of authority......Page 21
Hypothetical and categorical reasons for action......Page 22
Authority, autonomy and reason......Page 24
The challenge of relativism......Page 26
Does relativism make any sense?......Page 28
An important distinction......Page 29
The argument from cultural diversity......Page 31
The Argumentum ad Nazium......Page 32
Why tolerance does not entail relativism......Page 34
Relativism and chauvinism......Page 36
Relativism refined......Page 37
Some criticisms......Page 39
Why relativism can seem plausible......Page 40
Authority again......Page 41
Further reading......Page 43
The objectivity of morality......Page 46
Why is there a problem?......Page 48
Facts and values......Page 49
The ~naturalistic fallacy~......Page 50
Objectivity again......Page 52
Perceptions and projections......Page 53
Are moral properties ~queer~?......Page 55
Objectivist responses......Page 56
Values and secondary qualities......Page 57
Some difficulties for the analogy......Page 59
Interlude: theism and neo-Aristotelianism......Page 60
The Euthyphro dilemma......Page 62
Moral facts and moral reasons......Page 65
How are reasons generated?......Page 67
More on why the problem is thorny......Page 69
Credible and incredible moral realisms......Page 70
Moral discovery......Page 71
Further reading......Page 72
Consequentialism......Page 74
Mill's ~Utilitarianism~......Page 75
Pleasure, happiness and hedonism......Page 77
Higher and lower pleasures......Page 79
Are there bad pleasures?......Page 80
Psychological hedonism......Page 82
What is wrong with psychological hedonism......Page 84
Act- and rule-consequentialism......Page 86
Acts and omissions......Page 89
Problems with the distinction......Page 90
Intention and foresight......Page 93
Advantages of the doctrine......Page 96
Consequentialism and maximization......Page 97
Agent-relative morality......Page 98
Subjective and objective points of view......Page 99
The separateness of persons......Page 100
Justice, ends and means......Page 101
Concluding remarks: utilitarianism and practical rationality......Page 103
Kant's ethics......Page 106
The supreme principle of morality......Page 107
The formula of the end in itself......Page 110
Freedom and morality......Page 112
The two standpoints......Page 114
The good will......Page 116
The good will and moral luck......Page 118
An example: a ferry disaster......Page 119
Another example: the Greek junta......Page 121
Kant and the objectivity of moral judgement......Page 123
The significance of Kant's ethics......Page 125
Further reading......Page 126
Contractualism......Page 128
Hypothetical contracts and moral obligations......Page 129
Hobbes and the state of nature......Page 131
The contractualism of Gauthier......Page 133
Kantian contractualism......Page 135
The ~original position~......Page 136
For what would rational agents opt?......Page 138
Impartiality and ~moral irrelevance~......Page 140
Contractualism and utilitarianism......Page 142
A practical example: contractualism and animals......Page 143
Contractualist responses......Page 145
Another practical example: contractualism and respect for nature......Page 146
Conclusion: contractualism and moral intuitions......Page 147
Further reading......Page 150
Free will and the moral emotions......Page 152
Participant reactive attitudes......Page 153
The spectre of determinism......Page 154
The case for determinism......Page 156
Compatibilism......Page 157
Incompatibilist reservations......Page 159
Causality and rationality......Page 160
Determinism again......Page 165
Consequentialist justifications......Page 166
A remaining disquieting thought......Page 168
Strawson, freedom and resentment......Page 169
Final reflections......Page 171
Further reading......Page 172
Virtue......Page 174
Aristotle's ethics......Page 175
The good for man: happiness......Page 176
Some initial difficulties......Page 177
Aristotelian rejoinders......Page 178
Virtues and needs......Page 180
Pleasure and desire......Page 182
Is virtue theory trivial?......Page 184
Virtue theory's reply......Page 185
Virtue and motives......Page 187
The unity of the virtues......Page 190
Virtues, strange obligations and moral objectivity......Page 194
~Good~ as a descriptive term......Page 195
Some problems......Page 196
Further reading......Page 199
Reasoning about ethics......Page 200
Reason and emotion......Page 202
The Humean challenge and some responses......Page 204
Two examples......Page 206
The uses and abuses of consistency......Page 207
Universal prescriptivism......Page 209
A problem about reason: ideological conditioning......Page 212
Another problem about reason: the idea of objective truth......Page 216
Conservative critiques of reason......Page 219
Conclusion......Page 223
Further reading......Page 225
Notes......Page 226
Index......Page 234