Theoria 75 (2):100-116 (2009)
Abstract |
Moral particularists have seen Wittgenstein as a close ally. One of the main reasons for this is that particularists such as Jonathan Dancy and John McDowell have argued that Wittgenstein's so-called "rule-following considerations" (RFCs) provide support for their skepticism about the existence and/or role of rules and principles in ethics. In this paper, I show that while Wittgenstein's RFCs challenge the notion that competence with language, i.e., the ability to apply concepts properly, is like mechanically following a rule, he does not reject the idea that there are rules that govern proper use of language. I then argue that while the RFCs may, at best, support a weak form of particularism that denies that moral competence is dependent on an explicit grasp of rules, they do not support a stronger version of particularism that denies that there are any true rules or principles in ethics.
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Keywords | Wittgenstein moral particularism reasons principles rule‐following |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1111/j.1755-2567.2009.01035.x |
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References found in this work BETA
Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing, and Discursive Commitment.Robert B. Brandom - 1994 - Harvard University Press.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. C. M. Colombo & Bertrand Russell - 1922 - Fratelli Bocca.
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Citations of this work BETA
Rational Argument in Moral Philosophy: Some Implications of Gordon Baker's Therapeutic Conception of Philosophy.Christopher Lawton - unknown
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2009-04-10
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