DOCSLIB.ORG

Are There Any Moral Facts to Discover?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Are There Any Moral Facts to Discover? Two A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF A CLASSIC MORAL SCIENTIST: ARE THERE ANY MORAL FACTS TO DISCOVER? Howard M. Ducharme 1. Living in the Age of Science with its By-Product, the Death of Moral Facts Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) lived in the seventeenth century world of ideas and we live in the modern world of ideas. He lived in a world of ideas dominated by Aristotelian teleology, souls, and authoritative religious paradigms; we live in a world dominated by methodological naturalism, no souls, and the authoritative scientific paradigm. He lived when dualism of mind and body was both the common view and the academically dominant view; we live during the heyday of monistic Physicalism. He lived during those centuries when knowledge of objective ethical values -- ethical realism (ethical non-naturalism) -- was dominant; we live in an era dominated by moral skepticism -- where only versions of Ethical Anti-Realism (Ethical Naturalism) are deemed to be intellectually creditable. Ethical Anti-Realism, also called Ethical Naturalism, includes all theories of ethics that believe moral features of the world and language reduce to non-moral properties of the natural world and the natural sciences. For example, where all theories of ethics might linguistically agree that we are FDOOHG ³PRUDO DJHQWV´ WKH DQVZHU WR WKH TXHVWLRQ ³MXVW ZKDW FRQVWLWXWHV D moral agent"´ ZLOO UHYHDO WKH FRPPLWPHQW WR DQG YDULRXV VWUDQG RI HWKLFDO anti-realism. The common species of ethical anti-realism include the following: (1) Moral Nihilism -- ZKHUH ³PRUDO reasoning´ UHGXFHV WR JRRG political, psychological, or strategic reasons, but moral values and moral agents exist just like Santa Claus, tooth fairies, and Easter bunnies; (2) Subjectivism, Ethical Egoism, and simple Divine Command Theories ± ZKHUH³PRUDO UHDVRQV´IRUDFWLRQDQG³PRUDODJHQWV´UHGXFH to sentient biological organisms possessed by self-interested desires; 26 HOWARD M. DUCHARME (3) Cultural Relativism (per Ruth Benedict), and Sociology/Social Constructivism (per Emile Durkheim) -- ZKHUHD³PRUDO DJHQW´UHGXFHV WRDQDPRUDOEODQNVODWHDWELUWKZKLFKPRUSKVLQWRD³PRUDODJHQW´YLD the nurturing of socialization; (4) Utilitarianism (per Bentham and Peter Singer) -- ZKHUH D ³PRUDO DJHQW´UHGXFHVWRDVHQWLHQWUDWLRQDOFDOFXODWRURISDLQDQGSOHDVXUHIRU DOOWKRVHDIIHFWHGE\RQH¶VDFWLRQV (5) Contractarianism, Modern Religious Worldview Ethics, and Existentialism -- ZKHUHEHLQJD³PRUDO DJHQW´MXVWPHDQV\RXOLYHXQGHU a human construct or political contract that stipulates rights and wrongs, or where one picks and chooses the set of values one prefers among a plurality of worldviews on offer, or where special circumstances of DXWKHQWLFFKRLFHFUHDWHWKH³PRUDODJHQW´\RXFKRRVHWREH (6) Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism (per G. E. M. Anscombe, P. T. Geach, early Philippa Foot, Martha Nussbaum, and Judith Jarvis Thomson), and Kantianism -- ZKHUHD³PRUDO DJHQW´UHGXFHVWRa rational will that must be regarded as autonomous, or free in the sense of being the author of the law that binds it. The fundamental principle of morality, the Categorical Imperative, is the law of an autonomous will. So, what can we possibly learn from Hobbes? The answer, I will argue, is that we may be able to learn much more about our own unquestioned assumptions about ethical values, science, and moral reasoning from a careful DQGFULWLFDOORRNDW+REEHV¶PRUDOSKLORVRSK\ than we are likely to learn from studying a modern moral philosopher ± someone who is unwilling or unable to identify and challenge fundamental modern dogmatic assumptions, in particular, the dogmas of scientism. We may be able to learn much more from +REEHVSUHFLVHO\EHFDXVHZHDUHDEOHWRWDNHDQRXWVLGHREVHUYHUµVYLHZRI his moral science. From such a vantage point we can readily understand and critically evaluate his science and method of moral reasoning and thereby be more insightful and critical of our own unexamined assumptions that silently inundate our understanding much more than we realize, for instance, are there any moral facts to be discovered and known? This essay integrates and critically evaluates the classical moral science of Thomas Hobbes with our modern theories of morals ± theories of ethics that are overly determined and limited by the modern scientific paradigm, which I will call the Science-First Paradigm (SFP). Modernism is dominated by presumed self-evident truths for any modern thinking person. The de facto axioms of the SFP include epistemology (empiricism only), ontology (Physicalism, anti-Dualism), casual theory (methodological naturalism only), and method of investigation (third-person outside observer only). A positive argument ± that critically evaluates the SFP -- is also developed throughout this essay, focusing upon the question, are there any moral facts to discover? .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Transition Booklet
    Religious Studies Year 11-12 Bridging Project Welcome to Religious Studies at A Level! Now that you’ve decided to study Religious Studies at A level, you’ll need to do a bit of preparation. This pack contains activities and resources to prepare you to start your A level in September. It is aimed to be used throughout the rest of the summer term and over the summer holidays to ensure you are ready to start your course in September. When you arrive to your first lesson in September you should also bring a folder, lined paper, dividers and plastic wallets. This course is split into 3 components: 1. Study of a Religion (Hinduism) 2. Ethics 3. Philosophy The resources include: A task for each of the three components. Including research, podcasts, reviews, questions and videos. There is also some suggested tasks to complete and books you could read. 1. Study of a Religion The religion you will be studying is Hinduism. Please read through this article https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/12-things-you- need-to-know-about-hinduism/ from the article add a list of key terms and definitions you think will be useful for the course. You could also watch the following BBC documentary on Gandhi. Watch all 3 episodes and make notes on what Gandhi believed and why he was so important to the development of modern India. https://youtu.be/TQNbHVjC0sQ 2. Ethics Use the following website to choose a podcast that interests you. Listen to the podcast and write a review below. Think about the ethical issues that arise and arguments for and against the issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Educational Rights and the Roles of Virtues, Perfectionism, and Cultural Progress
    The Law of Education: Educational Rights and the Roles of Virtues, Perfectionism, and Cultural Progress R. GEORGE WRIGHT* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 385 II. EDUCATION: PURPOSES, RECENT OUTCOMES, AND LEGAL MECHANISMS FOR REFORM ................................................................ 391 A. EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND RIGHTS LANGUAGE ...................... 391 B. SOME RECENT GROUNDS FOR CONCERN IN FULFILLING EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ............................................................. 393 C. THE BROAD RANGE OF AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR THE LEGAL REFORM OF EDUCATION ............................................................... 395 III. SOME LINKAGES BETWEEN EDUCATION AND THE BASIC VIRTUES, PERFECTIONISM, AND CULTURAL PROGRESS ..................................... 397 IV. VIRTUES AND THEIR LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ...................................................................... 401 V. PERFECTIONISM AND ITS LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ...................................................................... 410 VI. CULTURAL PROGRESS OVER TIME AND ITS LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM .............................................. 417 VII. CONCLUSION: EDUCATION LAW AS RIGHTS-CENTERED AND AS THE PURSUIT OF WORTHY VALUES AND GOALS: THE EXAMPLE OF HORNE V. FLORES ............................................................................................ 431 I. INTRODUCTION The law of education
    [Show full text]
  • Anscombe, Foot, and Contemporary Virtue Ethics
    J Value Inquiry (2010) 44:209–224 DOI 10.1007/s10790-010-9218-0 Virtue Ethics without Right Action: Anscombe, Foot, and Contemporary Virtue Ethics John Hacker-Wright Published online: 5 March 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 1 Introduction Working out a criterion of morally right action is central to developing virtue ethics.1 Most advocates of virtue ethics believe that achieving such a criterion is crucial to vindicating virtue ethics as a normative theory. Yet the centrality of this task marks a departure from the views of at least some of the philosophers credited with the revival of virtue ethics in the twentieth century, especially from the views of G.E.M. Anscombe and Philippa Foot. Anscombe especially has sharp criticisms of the way philosophers handle the concept of morally right action along with related concepts like moral obligation. Yet the work of contemporary virtue ethicists such as Rosalind Hursthouse, Michael Slote, and Christine Swanton features little discussion of Anscombe’s criticisms or the reasons that the other virtue revivalists avoided providing a criterion of moral rightness. The dominant assumption appears to be that the earlier virtue revivalists neglect establishing a criterion of morally right action because their concern is to give priority to the evaluation of an agent over his acts as a corrective to the exclusive attention given to act-evaluation in the moral philosophy of the time. For Anscombe and Foot, at least, the concern to give priority to agent-evaluation is not among their motives for advocating a return to virtues.2 Instead, they believe that moral philosophers from the modern period forward have given the terms ‘‘right’’ and ‘‘ought’’ an artificial and incoherent sense.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Bernard Williams's Criticism of Aristotelian Naturalism
    UNDERSTANDING BERNARD WILLIAMS’S CRITICISM OF ARISTOTELIAN NATURALISM Michael Addison A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of MPhil at the University of St Andrews 2015 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9315 This item is protected by original copyright Understanding Bernard Williams’s Criticism of Aristotelian Naturalism. Michael Addison This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of MPhil at the University of St Andrews 19th November 2015 Abstract: In Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (henceforth ELP) Williams claims that holding a naturalistic Aristotelian ethical theory is no longer an option for us—we cannot believe what Aristotle believed about human beings. It is the purpose of this thesis to understand what Williams means by this claim and to evaluate whether or not it constitutes a pressing argument against Aristotelian naturalism. The modern Aristotelian (represented here by Martha Nussbaum, Philippa Foot and Rosalind Hursthouse) seems to be untouched by the claim as presented—they do not have to hold Aristotle’s view of human nature. The Aristotelian approaches human nature, not from an “outside” perspective, like the scientist, but from an “inside” perspective—from the point of view of an ethically engaged agent. The method does not seek to use a theory-independent notion of human nature to vindicate the Aristotelian claim that the properly functioning human being is virtuous. Rather, the Aristotelian is engaged in a project of using the notions of virtue that we already possess, to paint a picture of the kind of lives that we can all identify with, and endorse as properly functioning.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Intention and Normative Belief Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8725w3wp Author Chislenko, Eugene Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Intention and Normative Belief By Eugene Chislenko A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Hannah Ginsborg, Co-Chair Professor R. Jay Wallace, Co-Chair Professor Hubert Dreyfus Professor Tania Lombrozo Spring 2016 Copyright by Eugene Chislenko 2016 Abstract Intention and Normative Belief by Eugene Chislenko Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy University of California, Berkeley Professor Hannah Ginsborg and Professor R. Jay Wallace, Co-Chairs People can be malicious, perverse, compulsive, self-destructive, indifferent, or in conflict with their own better judgment. This much is obvious—but on many traditional views, it seems puzzling or even impossible. Many philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Davidson, and others, have thought that we act only “under the guise of the good,” doing only what we see as good, or best, or what we ought to do. These “guise-of-the-good” views offered a way to make sense of the attribution and explanation of action, while maintaining a generous view of human nature as essentially pursuing the good. But are they not hopelessly narrow and naïve? It seems clear that we often do what we do not see as good, and even what we see as bad.
    [Show full text]
  • Anscombe Reading Aristotle*
    Enrahonar. An International Journal of Theoretical and Practical Reason 64, 2020 63-79 Anscombe reading Aristotle* Susana Cadilha Universidade Nova de Lisboa – IFILNOVA [email protected] Reception date: 4-11-2019 Acceptance date: 2-12-2019 Abstract Under one particular reading of it, Anscombe’s ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ is considered a seminal text in the revival of virtue ethics. Seen thus, Anscombe is implying that it is possible to do ethics without using concepts such as ‘moral ought’ or ‘moral obligation’, the perfect example being Aristotelian ethics. On the other hand, Anscombe claims that it is not useful at present to engage in moral philosophy since she finds that ‘philosophically there is a huge gap… which needs to be filled by an account of human nature, human action, …and above all of human “flourishing”’ (Anscombe, 1958: 18). The gap Anscombe refers to appears where there should be a ‘proof that an unjust man is a bad man’. My aim in this paper is to discuss the various ways in which Anscombe’s theses can be interpreted, recalling two other philosophers for whom Aristotelian virtue ethics was also essential: P. Foot and J. McDowell. I will argue that Anscombe did not expect Aristotelian ethics to answer the problems modern ethics poses. Keywords: ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’; Aristotelian ethics; virtue ethics; moral naturalism; Philippa Foot; John McDowell Resum. Anscombe llegint a Aristòtil Fent-ne una lectura particular, «Modern Moral Philosophy» (La filosofia moral moder- na) d’Anscombe es considera un text fundador en el renaixement de l’ètica de la virtut. Vist així, Anscombe insinua que és possible fer ètica sense emprar conceptes com «deure moral» o «obligació moral»; l’exemple perfecte n’és l’ètica aristotèlica.
    [Show full text]
  • Maynooth Philosophical Papers Issue 5 (2008)
    MAYNOOTH PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS ISSUE 5 (2008) An Anthology of Current Research from the Department of Philosophy, NUI Maynooth Issue Editor: Simon Nolan General Editor: Michael Dunne This issue of Maynooth )hilosophical apers is dedicated to the memory of !r#$%&&#r J#)n ,%ary M123 Associate Professor of Philosophy at NUI, Maynooth who died on April 12th, 2009. ISBN 978 0 901519 627 © 2009 The Department of Philosophy, National University of Ireland — Maynooth, and the Individual Authors +4567568 rrd by Dr Michael Dunne i u dr nrdun ii Michael Dunne Aodh Mac Aingil (Hugo Cavellus, 1571–1626) on Doubt, Evidence and Certitude 1 Patrick Gorevan Philippa Foot’s ‘Natural Goodness’ 9 Mette Lebech Stein’s Phenomenology of the Body: The constitution of the human being between description of experience and social construction 16 Cyril McDonnell Why Punish the Guilty? Towards a Philosophical Analysis of the State’s Justification of Punishment 21 Simon Nolan Teaching and Learning in the Summa theologiae of Gerard of Bologna (d. 1317) 35 Wayne Waxman Universality and the Analytic Unity of Apperception in Kant: a reading of CPR B133-4n 42 178731+ Susan Byrne Remarks on Ludwig Wittgenstein and Behaviourism 49 John Haydn Gurmin A Bibliography of English Language Commentaries on the Philosophy of Edith Stein 57 Conleth Loonan The De mixtione elementorum of Thomas Aquinas 75 9#r%:#rd It is my great pleasure as general editor of the Maynooth hilosophical apers to write the foreword to this year’s edition of our journal which is the fifth volume in the series. My heartfelt thanks and warmest congratulations to all of the contributors, both staff and students, and especially to the volume editor, Fr Simon Nolan, for doing such a wonderful job in bringing together this valuable collection of papers.
    [Show full text]
  • Philippa Foot's Ethical Naturalism
    http://dx.doi.org/10.15801/je.1.101.201505.101 Philippa Foot’s Ethical Naturalism Philippa Foot’s Ethical Naturalism: A Defense Chung, Hun(PhD, Philosophy, Cornell University)* 1 Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to defend Philippa Foot’s ethical naturalism from D.Z. Phillips and H.O. Mounce’s criticisms. The paper as a whole consist of two main parts. In Part I, I will introduce and explain Foot’s ethical naturalism. In Part II, I will defend Foot’s ethical naturalism from Phillips and Mounce’s several criticisms. Key words - Philippa Foot; Ethical Naturalism; Emotivism; Non-Cognitivism; Phillips and Mounce * Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, University of Arizona (from Aug 2015) Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Rochester Main Areas: Ethics, Political Philosophy, Rational Choice Theory (viz. Decision, Game, Social Choice Theory), Philosophy of Science/Social Science, Comparative Politics 101 Journal of Ethics, Vol. 101 (May 30, 2015). INTRODUCTION: OUTLINE OF THE ENTIRE PAPER The purpose of this paper is to defend Philippa Foot’s ethical naturalism; the theoretical stance that claims that moral and certain evaluative terms are, not just externally or contingently, but also internally and logically related to appropriate facts and objects. The paper as a whole consists of two main parts: Part I: Foot’s Project: Defending Ethical Naturalism; and Part II: A Reply to Phillips and Mounce’s Reply. The main objective of the first part, which is titled “Foot’s Project: Defending Ethical Naturalism”, is to introduce and explain, in rather detail, Foot’s metaethical stance that she expressed in her early papers; “Moral Argument” and “Moral Beliefs”.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Problems for Aristotelian Naturalism in Contemporary Moral Philosophy
    SOFIA MIGUENS* IS THERE A SINGLE WAY FOR ALL HUMANS TO BE HUMAN? SOME PROBLEMS FOR ARISTOTELIAN NATURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY MORAL PHILOSOPHY Abstract Aristotelian naturalists may have diverging interpretations of Aristotle’s idea that the good life for a human being is a life of activity in accordance with the virtues. Such is the case of John McDowell (McDowell 1998) and Philippa Foot (Foot 1978). One important question here is whether Aristotelian naturalism in moral philoso- phy commits one to the idea of a good, or goods, which are natural to humans qua humans. Naturalism is a very widespread position in contemporary analytic philoso- phy yet not always very clearly spelled out. In order to search for clarity regarding what one means by naturalism, I explore several strands of McDowell’s case for sec- ond-nature naturalism as a position in moral philosophy. I then assess an argument put forward against it by Bernard Williams in Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (Williams 1985). Building on a suggestion by Alan Thomas in Value and Context –1 The nature of moral and political knowledge (Thomas 2006) and complementing * Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto. Director of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy Bureau and Principal Investigator of the Mind, Language and Action Group (MLAG). Research interests: Philosophy of Mind and Language, Epistemology and Cognitive Science, Moral Philosophy. Filosofia. Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 34 (2017) 167-186 167 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21747/21836892/fil34a7 SOFIA MIGUENS it with a view of rationality inspired by S.Stich (The Fragmentation of Reason, Stich 1990) I end with a proposal on how to keep Aristotelianism in moral philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • PHILIPPA FOOT Philippa Ruth Foot 1920–2010
    PHILIPPA FOOT Philippa Ruth Foot 1920–2010 I PHILIPPA RUTH FOOT was born on 3 October 1920, the second daughter of William Bosanquet, who had done mathematics at Cambridge and became the manager of a steelworks in Yorkshire, and Esther Cleveland, daughter of President Grover Cleveland. She was educated mainly at home in the country by governesses, and not well. She said, many years later, that, ‘unsurprisingly’, she had been left ‘extremely ignorant’, and when the last one, ‘who actually had a degree’, suggested to her that she should go to Oxford, she had to work for it. She spent a year with an established Oxford entrance coach and took a correspondence course to acquire the necessary entrance Latin; the result was a place at Somerville College, where she went to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) in 1939. She graduated with First Class Honours in 1942, and, like many of her female contemporaries, immediately looked for ‘war work’. After a year working in Oxford for the Nuffield Social Reconstruction Survey, she moved to work in London where she remained until the end of the war. There she married the historian M. R. D. Foot in June 1945 and, with him, returned to Oxford later that year where she took up a teaching posi- tion at Somerville (the marriage was dissolved in 1960). She became their first Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy in 1949, Vice-Principal in 1967, and, although she resigned her fellowship in 1969, she retained, as a Senior Research Fellow and then Honorary Fellow, very close links with the College and Somervillians, past and present, until the end of her life.
    [Show full text]
  • Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy
    Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy Philippa Foot Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © in this edition, Philippa Foot 2002 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 1978 by Blackwell Publishers and University of California 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, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Philippa Foot Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Foot, Philippa. Virtues and vices and other essays in moral philosophy/Philippa Foot.
    [Show full text]
  • International Journal of Applied Science and Research
    International Journal of Applied Science and Research THE PRIMACY OF VIRTUES IN PREVENTING AND ERADICATING SOCIO- POLITICAL EVIL, IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF PHILIPPAFOOT Benoît, Mondji, Kodjo, Agbégnigan 1st Co-author: Rev. Dr. Simon, Njuguna 2nd Co-author: Rev. Dr. Paul, Nyaga Faculty of Arts and Social Science/Philosophy, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi, Kenya IJASR 2020 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3 MAY – JUNE ISSN: 2581-7876 Abstract – Among all animals, the human person is capable of leading a moral life. He is a rational being who is able to live a virtuous life. We can see that virtuous life which is solely human. Unfortunately, the same human person who is imbued with rationality and free-will, becomes an obstacle to the expression of that freedom and rationality of others, when it is a matter of politics and development. This is because people overthrow ethical values by promoting other values which are contrary to the virtues because of the schools of thought to which one belongs. This situation brings into our society, the perpetuation of many evils: moral, physical and metaphysical. In such conditions who shall we blame? Is it the socio-political system that transforms human person or the human person that transforms society? Where has gone the notion of virtue which is intrinsic to human being gone to? This study is meant to help human persons understand the importance of virtue in one’s life and its role in socio- political and development agenda. The reawakening of virtue in society becomes a way for us to rebuild a firm foundation for society.
    [Show full text]