Meaning and Morality: Essays on the Philosophy of Julius Kovesi

235 Pages·2012·1.649 MB·English

by  Alan Tapper, T. Brian Mooney

Meaning and Morality
Studies in Moral Philosophy
Series Editor
Thom Brooks (Newcastle University)
Editorial Board
Chrisoula Andreou (University of Utah)
Mark Bevir (University of California, Berkeley)
Clare Chambers (University of Cambridge)
Fabian Freyenhagen (University of Essex)
Tim Mulgan (University of St Andrews)
Ian Shapiro (Yale University)
VOLUME 3
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/simp
Meaning and Morality
Essays on the Philosophy of Julius Kovesi
Edited by
Alan Tapper and T. Brian Mooney
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meaning and morality : essays on the philosophy of Julius Kovesi / edited by Alan Tapper and
T. Brian Mooney.
  p. cm. -- (Studies in moral philosophy, ISSN 2211-2014 ; v. 3)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-21808-6 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-23255-6 (e-book : alk. paper)
1. Kovesi, Julius. 2. Ethics--Australia. 3. Kovesi, Julius. Moral notions. I. Tapper, Alan. II. Mooney,
T. Brian.
 BJ977.A8M33 2012
 170.92--dc23
                              2012019251
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the
humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface.
ISSN 2211-2014
ISBN 978 90 04 21808 6 (hardback)
ISBN 978 90 04 23255 6 (e-book)
Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhofff Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Volume Foreword .....................................................................................................vii
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................ix
List of Contributors ..................................................................................................xi
Introduction ................................................................................................................1
Alan Tapper and T. Brian Mooney
Prologue: Memories of Julius Kovesi .................................................................15
Anthony Kenny
1. Kovesi’s Refutation of Hume ..........................................................................19
Bernard Harrison
2. Kovesi’s Moral Point of View ..........................................................................43
R. E. Ewin
3. Kovesi, Connaturality, and the Metaphysics and
Epistemology of Virtues ..................................................................................59
T. Brian Mooney, Mark Nowacki and John N. Williams
4. Moral Notions and Originality and Some Examples:
Reflections on Kovesi .......................................................................................85
Peter A. French
5. What’s Morality Got To Do With It? Making the
Right Distinctions ...........................................................................................107
Jean Bethke Elshtain
6. MacIntyre and Kovesi on the Nature of Moral Concepts ....................123
R. E. Ewin and Alan Tapper
7. Kovesi and Legal Reasoning .........................................................................139
Dennis Patterson
8. Kovesi and Searle: Thinking in Parallel? ...................................................143
James Doughney
vi contents
 9. Kovesi on Natural World Concepts and the Theory
of Meaning .....................................................................................................167
Alan Tapper
10. Kovesi’s Concepts and Plato’s Ideas ........................................................189
T. Brian Mooney and Lee Churchman
Index .........................................................................................................................219
VOLUME FOREWORD
Studies in Moral Philosophy is a series afffijiliated with the Journal of Moral
Philosophy that will publish new books in all areas of normative philoso-
phy. The series seeks to promote lively discussions and debates among the
wider philosophical community by publishing work that avoids unneces-
sary jargon without sacrifijicing academic rigour. It is highly fijitting to pub-
lish this collection of essays in the Studies in Moral Philosophy book series.
The work of Julius Kovesi has exerted a clear impact on moral philosophy
for many decades, but there has lacked a defijining collection dedicated
to examining his work. This important study fijills this gap while breaking
new ground with essays by some of the leading philosophers today cover-
ing an impressive range of topics. I have no doubt that moral philosophers
will profijit from these pages in addition to those already engaged with
Kovesi’s writings in a collection that should set the bar for all future work
on this topic.
Thom Brooks, Series Editor
Newcastle University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alan Tapper is grateful for the encouragement and help of Bob Ewin,
Bernard Harrison, Janet Kovesi Watt, Ted Watt, Chris Ulyatt, Nick Tapper,
David Ryan (since deceased), Stephan Millett, Michael Peters, all the
members of our regular noodle nights, and—most especially—Robin
Tapper. Thanks also to the School of Social Sciences at Singapore
Management University for its generous support in 2008.
Alan Tapper
Brian Mooney is grateful for the support of the School of Social Sciences
at Singapore Management University which provided fijinancial seeding
help when the project that issued in this book commenced several years
ago. Michael Peters and Alasdair MacIntyre have been invaluable sources
of material and moral support. As always my thanks to Pat, Fionnuala and
Thomas.
T. Brian Mooney