Rightness and Goodness: A Study in Contemporary Ethical Theory. Oliver A. Johnson

Ethics ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-242
Author(s):  
Richard B. Brandt
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory

Types of ethical theory, Vol 2.

1885 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Martineau
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory

Keynes and the Ethics of Socialism

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-180
Author(s):  
Edward Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Logical Theory ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Ethical Justification ◽  
General Rules

This paper examines John Maynard Keynes’s ethical theory and how it relates to his politico-economic thought. Keynes’s ethical theory represents an attack on all general rules. Since capitalism is a rule-based social system, Keynes’s ethical theory is incompatible with capitalism. And since socialism rejects the general rules of private property, the Keynesian ethical theory is consistent with socialism. The unexplored evidence presented here confirms Keynes advocated a consistent form of non-Marxist socialism from no later than 1907 until his death in 1946. However, Keynes’s ethical theory is flawed because it is based on his defective logical theory of probability. Consequently, Keynes’s ethical theory is not a viable ethical justification for socialism.

Spinoza’s Ethical Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Philosophical Naturalism ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Virtuous Character ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good And Evil

This chapter analyzes Spinoza’s ethical theory in the context of his philosophical naturalism, his doctrine that the actual essence of each thing is its striving for self-preservation (conatus), and his psychology of the emotions as it concerns both “bondage to the passions” and the active emotions such as intellectual joy. It explains how Spinoza’s ethical precepts are expressed chiefly through demonstrated propositions about good and evil, virtue, the guidance of reason, and “the free man.” Particular attention is given to questions about (1) the meaning of ethical language, (2) the nature of the good, (3) the practicality of reason, (4) the role of virtuous character, (5) the requirements for freedom and moral responsibility (especially in light of his necessitarianism), and (6) the possibility and moral significance of altruism. The chapter concludes by briefly assessing the significance of Spinoza’s ethical theory and its place in the history of ethics.

On What Matters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Parfit
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Previous Treatment ◽  
Moral Discourse ◽  
Wide Sense ◽  
Normative Naturalism ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Way ◽  
What Matters

This third volume of this series develops further previous treatment of reasons, normativity, the meaning of moral discourse, and the status of morality. It engages with critics, and shows the way to resolution of their differences. This volume is partly about what it is for things to matter, in the sense that we all have reasons to care about these things. Much of the book discusses three of the main kinds of meta-ethical theory: normative naturalism, quasi-realist expressivism, and non-metaphysical non-naturalism, which this book refers to as non-realist cognitivism. This third theory claims that, if we use the word ‘reality’ in an ontologically weighty sense, irreducibly normative truths have no mysterious or incredible ontological implications. If instead we use ‘reality’ in a wide sense, according to which all truths are truths about reality, this theory claims that some non-empirically discoverable truths — such as logical, mathematical, modal, and some normative truths — raise no difficult ontological questions. This book discusses these theories partly by commenting on the views of some of the contributors to Peter Singer's collection Does Anything Really Matter? Parfit on Objectivity.

Oxford Studies in Metaethics Volume 15

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Moral Realism ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Moral Explanation ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Selection Of

This series is devoted to original philosophical work in the foundations of ethics. It provides an annual selection of much of the best new scholarship being done in the field. Its broad purview includes work being done at the intersection of ethical theory and metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. The chapters included in the series provide a basis for understanding recent developments in the field. Chapters in this volume explore topics including the nature of reasons, the tenability of moral realism, moral explanation and grounding, and a variety of epistemological challenges.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Renz
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Human Mind

The conclusion, first, critically assesses what Spinoza’s theory of the human mind, as reconstructed in this book, achieves with respect to an overall aim of advocating the view that subjective experience is explainable. It is argued that, while not providing a conclusive argument for this view, Spinoza defends such a position against a variety of skeptical objections. Realist rationalism, the book concludes, turns out to be a credible view, albeit one that needs to be defended time and again. Second, the conclusion also provides a reading of some of the most intriguing tenets of Spinoza’s ethical theory. In particular, it shows how successful explanation can be understood as contributing to all human wisdom, prudence, freedom, and eventually even happiness.

From Intuitions to Anarchism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Common View ◽  
Libertarian Theory

AbstractWhen libertarian political philosophy attracted wide public notice in the 1970s, a common view was that the distinctive individual rights advocated in libertarian theory required grounding in a theory of ethics. Recently, this view has come under challenge. It has been argued that resort to such grounding in ethical theory is unneeded. An appeal to common sense intuitions suffices to justify libertarianism. First, a brief account of libertarianism will be presented. Then, some examples of the older, pro-grounding position will be discussed. Then, the principal defense of the newer view, Michael Huemer’s The Problem of Political Authority, will be examined. This discussion constitutes the substance of the present paper. The principal contention of the present article will be that the argument to libertarianism from intuitions does not succeed. In conclusion, it will be suggested that a return to the earlier, grounding view is indicated for philosophers who wish to defend libertarianism.

scholarly journals The Present Task of Ethical Theory

1910 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
James H. Tufts
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory
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