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Cover

Foundations of Moral Philosophy

Readings in Metaethics

Edited by Steven M. Cahn and Andrew T. Forcehimes

Publication Date - 15 November 2016

ISBN: 9780190623074

592 pages
Paperback
7-1/2 x 9-1/4 inches

In Stock

A wide-ranging collection of contemporary and historical selections on metaethics

Description

Foundations of Moral Philosophy: Readings in Metaethics is a comprehensive collection of fifty-six contemporary readings and historical sources on major issues in metaethics. It focuses on the meaning of moral terms, the nature of moral psychology, whether we can know moral truths (if there are any), and the role of moral reasons. The book features unparalleled representation of women philosophers, with one-third of the contemporary articles authored or coauthored by women. Wherever appropriate, the articles have been carefully edited to ensure that they will be exceptionally clear and understandable to undergraduate students. The volume is enhanced by a general introduction, introductions and study questions for each selection, and a detailed glossary.

About the Author(s)

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books. Most recently, he coauthored Happiness and Goodness (2015). Dr. Cahn is the editor of Exploring Ethics, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2016), The World of Philosophy (OUP, 2015), and Exploring Philosophy, Fifth Edition (OUP, 2014), and coeditor of Principles of Moral Philosophy (OUP, 2016) and Ethics, Sixth Edition (OUP, 2015).

Andrew T. Forcehimes is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has published articles in Ethics, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Utilitas, and Res Publica. He is the coeditor, with Steven M. Cahn, of Principles of Moral Philosophy (OUP, 2016).

Reviews

"The introduction to Foundations of Moral Philosophy is a terrific stand-alone piece of philosophy. The table of contents looks great. It is very up-to-date, and heartening to see a textbook in metaethics that moves on from the standard fare that you normally get in metaethics textbooks."--Michael Smith, Princeton University

"This book offers a systematic treatment of issues in metaethics, is historically grounded, and is contemporary in its approach to the most recent work in the field. Also, I am not aware of any other anthology that offers such an even-handed selection of male and female authors."--Kyle Yrigoyen, San Jose State University

Table of Contents

    PART I. INTRODUCTION
    Andrew T. Forcehimes, The Driving Forces of Metaethics
    PART II. HISTORICAL SOURCES
    Plato, The Republic
    Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
    Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
    Joseph Butler, Fifteen Sermons
    David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
    Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
    John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
    Henry Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics
    Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
    PART III. REALISM
    G. E. Moore, Principia Ethica
    Peter Railton, Naturalism and Prescriptivity
    Derek Parfit, Against Non-Analytic Naturalism
    Michael Smith, Realism
    Frank Jackson & Philip Pettit, Moral Functionalism
    Susana Nuccetelli & Gary Seay, Does Analytical Moral Naturalism Rest on a Mistake?
    PART IV. NON-COGNITIVISM
    A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic
    C. M. Stevenson, The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms
    R. M. Hare, The Language of Morals
    Simon Blackburn, Antirealist Expressivism and Quasi-Realism
    Mark Schroeder, What Is the Frege-Geach Problem?
    Allen Gibbard, The Reasons of a Living Being
    Michael Ridge, Ecumenical Expressivism
    Paul Edwards, The Logic of Moral Discourse
    PART V. ERROR THEORY
    J. L. Mackie, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
    Ronald Dworkin, Against External Skepticism
    Jonas Olson, In Defense of Moral Error Theory
    Richard Joyce, Moral Fictionalism
    PART VI. RELATIVISM
    Mary Midgely, Moral Isolationism
    Gilbert Harman, Moral Relativism Defended
    Stephen Darwall, Harman and Moral Relativism
    PART VII. RESPONSE DEPENDENCE
    David Lewis, Dispositional Theories of Value
    David Enoch, Why Idealize?
    PART VIII. CONSTRUCTIVISM
    John Rawls, Themes in Kant's Moral Philosophy
    Christine M. Korsgaard, Self-Constitution
    Sharon Street, Coming to Terms with Contingency
    T. M. Scanlon, Metaphysics and Morals
    PART IX. THEISTIC VOLUNTARISM
    Steven M. Cahn, The Question: Plato's Euthyphro
    Robert M. Adams, A Modified Divine Command Theory
    Michael Huemer, The Divine Command Theory: A Reply to Adams
    PART X. EPISTEMOLOGY
    H. A. Prichard, Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?
    P. F. Strawson, Ethical Intuitionism
    Alison Hill, Moral Epistemology
    Sarah McGrath, Moral Disagreement and Moral Expertise
    Sharon Street, A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value
    Katia Vavova, Debunking Evolutionary Debunking
    PART XI. MORAL EXPLANATIONS
    Gilbert Harman, The Nature of Morality
    Nicholas L. Sturgeon, Moral Explanations
    PART XII. REASONS & MOTIVES
    Thomas Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism
    Sigrún Svavarsdóttir, Moral Cognitivism and Motivation
    Philippa Foot, Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives
    Bernard Williams, Internal and External Reasons, with Postscript
    Julia Markovits, Internal Reasons and the Motivating Intuition
    Mark Schroeder, The Humean Theory of Reasons
    Derek Parfit, Against Subjective Theories of Reasons
    Ruth Chang, Grounding Practical Normativity: Going Hybrid
    Glossary
    Index

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