Morality and Moral Theory: A Reappraisal and Reaffirmation
Oxford University Press (1992)
| Abstract | Contemporary philosophers have grown increasingly skeptical toward both morality and moral theory. Some argue that moral theory is a radically misguided enterprise that does not illuminate moral practice, while others simply deny the value of morality in human life. In this important new book, Louden responds to the arguments of both "anti-morality" and "anti-theory" skeptics. In Part One, he develops and defends an alternative conception of morality, which, he argues, captures more of the central features of both Aristotelian and Kantian ethics than do other contemporary models, and enables the central importance of morality to be convincingly reaffirmed. In Louden's model, morality is primarily a matter of what one does to oneself, rather than what one does or does not do to others. This model eliminates the gulf that many anti-morality critics say exists between morality's demands and the personal point of view. Louden further argues that morality's primary focus should be on agents and their lives, rather than on right actions, and that it is always better to be morally better--i.e. it is impossible to be "too moral." Part Two presents Louden's alternative conception of moral theory. Here again he draws on the work of Aristotle and Kant, showing that their moral theories have far more in common than is usually thought, and that those features that they share can be the basis for a viable moral theory that is immune to the standard anti-theory objections. Louden reaffirms the necessity and importance of moral theory in human life, and shows that moral theories fulfill a variety of genuine and indispensable human needs. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Ethics | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $48.99 direct from Amazon (11% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | BJ1012.L67 1992 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0195072928 9780195072921 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesDon Loeb (2007). The Argument From Moral Experience. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (5):469 - 484.
Thomas L. Carson & Paul K. Moser (eds.) (1997). Morality and the Good Life. Oxford University Press.
Jason Brennan (2008). Beyond the Bottom Line: The Theoretical Goals of Moral Theorizing. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 28 (2):277-296.
James Gordon Finlayson (2000). Modernity and Morality in Habermas's Discourse Ethics. Inquiry 43 (3):319 – 340.
J. McKenzie Alexander (2007). The Structural Evolution of Morality. Cambridge University Press.
Ronald A. Lindsay (2005). Slaves, Embryos, and Nonhuman Animals: Moral Status and the Limitations of Common Morality Theory. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (4):323-346.
Pauline Chazan (1998). The Moral Self. Routledge.
Brian Edward Zamulinski (2007). Evolutionary Intuitionism: A Theory of the Origin and Nature of Moral Facts. Mcgill-Queen's University Press.
John Bricke (1996). Mind and Morality: An Examination of Hume's Moral Psychology. Oxford University Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads26 ( #48,439 of 556,888 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #39,122 of 556,888 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
