Abstract

This is a book about John Leslie Mackie’s ethics. Its aim is to offer an updated view on his thought and a global perspective on his philosophy, which has thusfar been seen from an exclusive standpoint within analytical philosophy. The book connects the main aspects of Mackie’s philosophy, which have basically been analyzed separately, and intertwines them within a consistent framework. The result is a new, wider perspective on Mackie’s thought, representing a precious tile within the puzzle of contemporary ethics and ontology. The book tries to render the whole of Mackie’s thought and its unity and, at the same time, it tries to locate it within a specific area between meta-ethics, logic, and ontology. "Principles and causes" should be of interest to a wide community of philosophy scholars, serving as a reference volume in contemporary ethics and ontology, a good connection to social ontology and essential reading for those interested in meta-ethics.