Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions
The paper begins by noting the widespread disagreement that has existed in philosophy from its very inception until now. It is claimed that Henry Sidgwick was right to see the main debate in ethics as between egoists, consequentialists, and deontologists. This raises the question whether the best ap...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2020
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| _version_ | 1826292940927926272 |
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| author | Crisp, R |
| author_facet | Crisp, R |
| author_sort | Crisp, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The paper begins by noting the widespread disagreement that has existed in philosophy from its very inception until now. It is claimed that Henry Sidgwick was right to see the main debate in ethics as between egoists, consequentialists, and deontologists. This raises the question whether the best approach might be to seek a position based on the different theories rather than one alone. Some clarification is then offered of the main questions asked in ethics, and it is claimed that the primary ethical question is that of Socrates: how should one live? Substantive agreement between our three normative theories is possible, but unlikely; and explanatory agreement is conceptually impossible. More restricted agreement may be possible, though doubts can be raised about Derek Parfit’s ‘triple theory’. One might attempt to combine different elements of the theories, syncretically, but again agreement is unlikely. The paper ends by considering the epistemic implications of disagreement, and with a recommendation of a more eirenic methodology for moral philosophy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:22:26Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b7e15533-cc76-4f78-9c66-8af870a58094 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:22:26Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b7e15533-cc76-4f78-9c66-8af870a580942022-03-27T04:51:56ZAre we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questionsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b7e15533-cc76-4f78-9c66-8af870a58094EnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer2020Crisp, RThe paper begins by noting the widespread disagreement that has existed in philosophy from its very inception until now. It is claimed that Henry Sidgwick was right to see the main debate in ethics as between egoists, consequentialists, and deontologists. This raises the question whether the best approach might be to seek a position based on the different theories rather than one alone. Some clarification is then offered of the main questions asked in ethics, and it is claimed that the primary ethical question is that of Socrates: how should one live? Substantive agreement between our three normative theories is possible, but unlikely; and explanatory agreement is conceptually impossible. More restricted agreement may be possible, though doubts can be raised about Derek Parfit’s ‘triple theory’. One might attempt to combine different elements of the theories, syncretically, but again agreement is unlikely. The paper ends by considering the epistemic implications of disagreement, and with a recommendation of a more eirenic methodology for moral philosophy. |
| spellingShingle | Crisp, R Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title | Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title_full | Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title_fullStr | Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title_short | Are we climbing the same mountain? Moral theories, moral concepts, moral questions |
| title_sort | are we climbing the same mountain moral theories moral concepts moral questions |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT crispr areweclimbingthesamemountainmoraltheoriesmoralconceptsmoralquestions |