✍ Scribed by Duncan Richter (auth.)
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
How, if at all, can we do moral philosophy in the light of the radical critique made by Elizabeth Anscombe in "Modem Moral Philosophy"? Among the principal theses of this essay is that ethical thinking (that of philosophers and others) suffers from a widespread appeal to incoherent uses of terms such as 'obligation,' 'ought,' 'right' and 'wrong. ' In this book I first explain and evaluate her thesis and the argument for it, and I then confront the challenge it poses: what ways are there of doing moral philosophy that avoid the kind of incoherence to which she has drawn our attention? The best way to show how it is possible for us to think about ethics is to demonstrate how to do so, using actual cases. This book therefore combines the critical study of central theoretical issues about ethics, in the first half, with concrete examination of serious practical issues, in the second. Following Dostoyevsky's Ivan Karamazov, it is often said that if God does not exist then everything is permitted. This is not literally the case, since God cannot permit anything if He does not exist, and those of us who do exist do not permit everything, or at least our parents, employers, and governments do not. It is true, though, that if God does not exist then nothing is forbidden in the traditional sense of 'forbidden'.
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
The Incoherence of the Moral ‘Ought’....Pages 1-18
Is Moral Philosophy Possible?....Pages 19-34
How to do Moral Philosophy....Pages 35-56
How to do Moral Philosophy....Pages 57-75
The Ethics of Suicide....Pages 76-96
Persons, Babies and Martians....Pages 97-124
Does Meat Mean Murder?....Pages 125-145
Conclusion....Pages 146-162
Back Matter....Pages 163-175
Ethics; Ontology; Modern Philosophy; Philosophy
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