Moral Realities: An Essay in Philosophical Psychology

✍ Scribed by Mark Platts

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 179
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Moral Realities engages the classical moral philosophies of Hume, Mandeville and Nietzsche, and tackles the powerful arguments of the contemporary moral relativists. Platts uses an existing critique of philosophical notions of desire and value to present a descriptive metaphysics of morals--clarifying both what morality is and what it is not. He also employs a classification of desire that articulates a general theory of value and valuing which is distinguished by a cognitive approach given to certain kinds of moral valuing. The possibility of applying this approach to moral valuings is defended against the persuasive criticisms of both the Humean subjectivist and the contemporary moral relativist.

✦ Table of Contents

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 2
Copyright......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 7
Introduction......Page 9
Part One......Page 16
1. Misconceptions of Desire......Page 17
2. The Distinctions of Desire......Page 33
3. Values......Page 59
Part Two......Page 86
4. Fact and Action in Hume’s Moral Theory......Page 87
5. The Reach of Morality......Page 113
6. Morality’s Critics......Page 143
Afterwords......Page 172
Bibliography of Philosophical Works to......Page 173
Index......Page 176