the oxford handbook of ethical theory dec 2005

The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory DAVID COPP OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS the oxford handbook of ETHICAL THEORY OXFORD HANDBOOKS IN PHILOSOPHY PAUL K. MOSER, general editor Series Advisory Board ROBERT AUDI University of Nebraska MARTHA NUSSBAUM University of Chicago ALVIN PLANTINGA University of Notre Dame ERNEST SOSA Brown University the oxford handbook of ETHICAL THEORY Edited by DAVID COPP 1 2006 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright ᭧ 2006 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Copp, David. The Oxford handbook of ethical theory / David Copp. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-514779-7 ISBN 0-19-514779-0 1. Ethics. I. Title. BJ1012.C675 2005 171—dc22 2004065411 246897531 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Marina, Margaret, and Cecil This page intentionally left blank Preface The twenty-two chapters of this book represent the current state of debate on the wide range of issues discussed in moral philosophy. The authors do not merely survey the field. They present and defend a point of view, sometimes a contentious point of view, and sometimes one that is disputed in another chapter in the volume. The chapters are demanding, and written at a professional level, but with the intention of being accessible to any sophisticated reader who has at least some background in philosophy. The introduction is intended to provide an overview of the field of ethical theory as well as an overview of the essays. I hope it will make the book more useful. My hope for the volume as a whole is that it will contribute to the continued flowering of moral philosophy. I am grateful to many people for their help with the book and for their encouragement. My most important debt, of course, is to the authors of the essays, first for the very high quality of their work, but also for their patience. The volume took longer to put together than I had foreseen. For encouraging me to accept the challenge of doing the book, I thank Christopher Morris, Marina Oshana, and my editor at Oxford, Peter Ohlin. Tom Hurka gave me very helpful advice at several important points while I was working on the volume, as did John Fischer. I am sure that there are people who I have forgotten to mention, and I would like to thank them while apologizing for my memory. Many people gave me helpful advice about the introduction. I thank them by name in a note to that chapter. This page intentionally left blank Contents Contributors, xiii Introduction: Metaethics and Normative Ethics, 3 David Copp Part I. Metaethics 1. Moral Realism, 39 Geoffrey Sayre-McCord 2. Theological Voluntarism, 63 Philip L. Quinn 3. Ethical Naturalism, 91 Nicholas L. Sturgeon 4. Nonnaturalism, 122 Jonathan Dancy 5. Antirealist Expressivism and Quasi-Realism, 146 Simon Blackburn 6. Biology and Ethics, 163 Philip Kitcher 7. Sensibility Theory and Projectivism, 186 Justin D’Arms and Daniel Jacobson 8. Moral Sentimentalism and Moral Psychology, 219 Michael Slote [...]... to the error theory But it is possible to accept all three premises without accepting the error theory One can be led, instead, to noncognitivism, which is another form of moral antirealism Like the error theory, it denies that there are moral properties, but it proposes to explain the normativity of moral judgment in another way The core idea of noncognitivism is the thesis that the state of mind of. .. equally fundamental, thereby denying that there is a basic matter of moral concern 20 the oxford handbook of ethical theory It is useful to categorize moral theories on the basis, inter alia, of the positions they take on these disputes As we will see in what follows, there is a tendency for a theory to take the same position on both disputes That is, there is a tendency to hold that the basic moral truths,... approaches that do aim to provide a theory of right action, the central divide is between consequentialist and nonconsequentialist theories Consequentialist theories share the basic idea that the rightness of an action depends in some way on the promotion of the good Hence, consequentialism grounds the theory of right action in a theory of intrinsic good, or a theory of value It is in this way that consequentialism... deriving them in one way or another from the basic truths But theories can differ in how they attempt to do this, and they can also differ in their views about the exact status of the truths they take to be basic Of course, a theory could instead reject the idea that there are moral truths that are basic in any interesting sense And a theory could take it that all or several of the matters of concern... professor of philosophy at Florida State University geoffrey sayre-mccord is professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill michael slote is professor of philosophy at the University of Miami hillel steiner is professor of political philosophy in the University of Manchester, England, and Fellow of the British Academy nicholas l sturgeon is professor of. .. such as decisions about behavior within the family Other decisions concern our responsibilities in our jobs Some concern our relationship to the state or the law, such as decisions about whether to abide by the tax code or whether to join the armed forces 4 the oxford handbook of ethical theory People who have governmental roles sometimes make decisions about controversial social issues, such as the morality... Is it the kind of person we should be? Is it the actions we perform? Is it the kind of character we have? Is it our motivations or intentions? Is it goodness or value—either the goodness in a person’s own life, or the overall goodness of the state of the world and the condition of people in the world? Second, what are the fundamental or basic moral truths? Are they propositions about the kind of life... the University of Texas, Austin, where he is professor of philosophy justin d’arms is associate professor of philosophy at the Ohio State University stephen darwall is John Dewey Collegiate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan michael r depaul is professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame james dreier is professor of philosophy at Brown University gerald dworkin is professor... goodness.9 The two disputes I have been discussing may seem intractable, but they are in the background of a debate that has dominated normative moral theory, a debate about the theory of right action The moral assessment of actions is a central concern in our moral life In any situation, we can wonder what would be the right thing to do A theory of right action attempts to answer the question, What are the. .. blackburn is professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge david o brink is professor of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and a director of the Institute for Law and Philosophy at the University of San Diego Law School jonathan dancy spends two terms of each academic year at the University of Reading, England, where he is research professor of philosophy, . The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory DAVID COPP OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS the oxford handbook of ETHICAL THEORY OXFORD HANDBOOKS IN PHILOSOPHY PAUL K. MOSER,. concern our relationship to the state or the law, such as decisions about whether to abide by the tax code or whether to join the armed forces. 4 the oxford handbook of ethical theory People who have. Professor of Philosophy at the Uni- versity of Michigan. piers rawling is professor of philosophy at Florida State University. geoffrey sayre-mccord is professor and chair of the Department of