1st Edition

Ethics and Experience Life Beyond Moral Theory

By Tim Chappell Copyright 2009
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    "Ethics and Experience" presents a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction to the question famously posed by Socrates: How is life to be lived? An excellent primer for any student taking a course on moral philosophy, the book introduces ethics as a single and broadly unified field of inquiry in which we apply reason to try and solve Socrates' question. "Ethics and Experience" examines the major forms of ethical subjectivism and objectivism - including expressivism, error theory, naturalism, and intuitionism. The book lays out the detail of the most significant contemporary moral theories - including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, Kantianism, and contractarianism - and reconsiders these theories in the light of two questions that should perhaps be asked more often: Is moral theory, with its tendency to regiment ethical thought and experience, really the best way for us to apply reason to deciding how to live? And, might it not be more truly reasonable to look for less system and more insight?

    1. The Turn to Reason: How Humans Got Ethical 2. Demarcation: What Does "Ethical" Mean? 3. Motivation: Why be Moral? 4. Deliberation: The Question of Reason 5. Introducing Subjectivism and Objectivism 6. Five Arguments for Ethical Subjectivism 7. The Content of Ethics: Expressivism, Error Theory, Objectivism Again 8. Virtue Ethics 9. Utilitarianism 10. Kantianism and Contractarianism 11. Beyond Moral Theory Bibliography Index

    Biography

    Tim Chappell