Philosophical Ethics: An Historical And Contemporary Introduction (Dimensions of Philosophy Series)

✍ Scribed by Stephen Darwall

• Publisher: Westview Press
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 269
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Why is ethics part of philosophy? Stephen Darwall’s Philosophical Ethics introduces students to ethics from a distinctively philosophical perspective, one that weaves together central ethical questions such as “What has value?” and “What are our moral obligations?” with fundamental philosophical issues such as “What is value?” and “What can a moral obligation consist in?”With one eye on contemporary discussions and another on classical texts, Philosophical Ethics shows how Hobbes, Mill, Kant, Aristotle, and Nietzsche all did ethical philosophy—how, for example, they sought to gain insight into what has value through understanding what value itself is. After an introductory section, and one on main approaches to metaethics, chapters discuss “modern” philosophical moralists—Hobbes, Mill, and Kant—and pre- and postmodern philosophical approaches to ethics in Aristotle, Nietzsche, and the ethics of care.Throughout, the reader is invited to do—rather than just read about—philosophical ethics and, in doing so, to think through questions that face all thoughtful human beings. Themes include the nature of value and moral obligation, freedom and choice, human flourishing, excellence and merit, radical critiques of morality, and the importance of relationships for human life.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 16
Part One Introduction......Page 18
1 What Is Philosophical Ethics?......Page 20
Part Two Metaethics......Page 32
2 Metaethics: The Basic Questions......Page 34
3 Naturalism......Page 44
4 Theological Voluntarism......Page 56
5 Rational Intuitionsim......Page 66
6 The Ideal Judgment Theory......Page 72
7 The Error Theory and Ethical Relativism......Page 80
8 Noncognitivism......Page 88
9 Interlude......Page 98
Part Three Philosophical Moralists......Page 102
10 Hobbes I......Page 104
11 Hobbes II......Page 114
12 Mill I......Page 126
13 Mill II......Page 140
14 Kant I......Page 156
15 Kant II......Page 172
Part Four Philosophical Ethics Without Morality?......Page 192
16 Nietzsche......Page 194
17 Aristotle I......Page 208
18 Aristotle II......Page 220
19 Ethics of Care......Page 234
Notes......Page 246
Glossary......Page 250
Index......Page 262