1st Edition

The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics

Edited By Tristram McPherson, David Plunkett Copyright 2018
    698 Pages
    by Routledge

    716 Pages
    by Routledge

    This Handbook surveys the contemporary state of the burgeoning field of metaethics. Forty-four chapters, all written exclusively for this volume, provide expert introductions to:

      • the central research programs that frame metaethical discussions
      • the central explanatory challenges, resources, and strategies that inform contemporary work in those research programs
      • debates over the status of metaethics, and the appropriate methods to use in metaethical inquiry

    This is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in metaethics, from those coming to it for the first time to those actively pursuing research in the field.

    Contents

    Contributors

    Acknowledgements

    Preface

    Introduction: The Nature and Explanatory Ambitions of Metaethics
    Tristram McPherson, and David Plunkett

    I.       Central Organizing Options in Metaethics

    1. Non-Naturalistic Realism in Metaethics
       David Enoch
    2. Naturalistic Realism in Metaethics 
      Peter Railton
    3. Error Theory in Metaethics
      Jonas Olson
    4. Fictionalism in Metaethics
      Richard Joyce
    5. Metaethical Expressivism
      Elisabeth Camp
    6. Metaethical Contextualism
      Alex Silk
    7. Metaethical Relativism
      Isidora Stojanovic
    8. II.    Central Problems and Strategies in Metaethics

    9. Realism and Objectivity
      Billy Dunaway
    10. Metaphysical Relations in Metaethics
      Gideon Rosen
    11. The Supervenience Challenge to Non-Naturalism
      Pekka Väyrynen
    12. Vagueness and Indeterminacy in Ethics
      Tom Dougherty
    13. Deontic Modals
      Jennifer Carr
    14. Thick Concepts
      Debbie Roberts
    15. The Frege-Geach Problem
      Jack Woods
    16. Hybrid Accounts of Ethical Thought and Talk
      Teemu Toppinen
    17. Conceptual Role Accounts of Meaning in Metaethics
      Matthew Chrisman
    18. The Significance of Ethical Disagreement for Theories of Ethical Thought and Talk
      Gunnar Björnsson
    19. Cognitivism and Non-Cognitivism
      Matthew S. Bedke
    20. Ethical Judgment and Motivation
      David Faraci and Tristram McPherson
    21. Reasons Internalism
      Errol Lord and David Plunkett
    22. The Wrong Kind of Reasons
      Howard Nye
    23. Mind-Dependence and Moral Realism
      Connie S. Rosati
    24. Constitutivism
      Michael Smith
    25. Constructivism
      Melissa Barry
    26. Normativity and Agency
      Hille Paakkunainen
    27. Mores and Morals: Metaethics and the Social World
      Kenneth Walden
    28. The Autonomy of Ethics
      Barry Maguire
    29. Explanatory Challenges in Metaethics
      Joshua Schechter
    30. Ethical Expertise
      Karen Jones and Francois Schroeter
    31. Intuitionism in Moral Epistemology
      Elizabeth Tropman
    32. Moral Scepticism
      Matt Lutz and Jacob Ross
    33. The Epistemic Significance of Moral Disagreement
      Dustin Locke
    34. III. The status and methodology of metaethics

    35. Metasemantics and Metaethics
      Laura Schroeter and Francois Schroeter
    36. Conceptual Analysis in Metaethics
      Nicholas Laskowski and Stephen Finlay
    37. Ethics and Morality
      Stephen Darwall
    38. The Varieties of Normativity
      Derek Baker
    39. Pragmatism and Metaethics
      Andrew Sepielli
    40. Feminism and Metaethics
      Amia Srinivasan
    41. Experimental Philosophy and Moral Theory
      Chandra Sripada
    42. Quasi-realism
      Terence Cuneo
    43. Metaethical Quietism
      Karl Schafer and Doug Kremm
    44. Methodological Naturalism in Metaethics  
      Daniel Nolan
    45. Normative Ethics and Metaethics  
      Mark Schroeder

    Index

    Biography

    Tristram McPherson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Ohio State University.

    David Plunkett is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College.

    "This is a superb collection, edited by two of the leading lights in the field. This volume provides a splendid view of the rich and varied terrain of contemporary metaethics, with contributions by an all-star roster of philosophers. Those looking to familiarize themselves with what is happening in metaethics today need look no further than this immensely helpful handbook."

    --Russ Shafer-Landau, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

     "This is an extremely valuable, comprehensive volume of essays on metaethics. The contributors, whether veterans or new voices, provide knowledgeable and original perspectives on just about every aspect of contemporary metaethical theory."

    -Jamie Dreier, Brown University