The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory (Oxford Handbooks)

680 Pages·2005·3.79 MB·English

by  David Copp

The Oxford Handbook of
Ethical Theory
DAVID COPP
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
the oxford handbook of
ETHICAL THEORY
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OXFORD HANDBOOKS IN PHILOSOPHY
PAUL K. MOSER, general editor
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Series AdvisoryBoard
ROBERT AUDI
Universityof Nebraska
MARTHA NUSSBAUM
Universityof Chicago
ALVIN PLANTINGA
Universityof NotreDame
ERNEST SOSA
Brown University
the oxford handbook of
......................................................................................................................................................
ETHICAL
THEORY
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Edited by
DAVID COPP
1
2006
1
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Copp,David.
TheOxfordhandbookofethicaltheory/DavidCopp.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13978-0-19-514779-7
ISBN0-19-514779-0
1. Ethics. I. Title.
BJ1012.C6752005
171—dc22 2004065411
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
For Marina,
Margaret, and Cecil
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The twenty-two chapters of this book represent the current state of debate on
thewiderangeofissuesdiscussedinmoralphilosophy.Theauthorsdonotmerely
surveythefield.Theypresentanddefendapointofview,sometimesacontentious
point of view, and sometimes one that is disputed in another chapter in the
volume. The chaptersare demanding,andwrittenataprofessionallevel,butwith
theintentionof beingaccessibletoanysophisticatedreaderwhohasatleastsome
background in philosophy. The introduction is intended to provide an overview
of the field of ethical theory as well as an overview of the essays. I hope it will
make the book more useful. My hope for the volume as a whole is that it will
contribute to the continued flowering of moral philosophy.
I am grateful to many people for their help with the book and for their
encouragement.Mymostimportantdebt,ofcourse,istotheauthorsoftheessays,
firstfortheveryhighqualityoftheirwork,butalsofortheirpatience.Thevolume
took longer to put together than I had foreseen. For encouraging me to accept
the challenge of doing the book, I thank Christopher Morris, Marina Oshana,
and my editor at Oxford, Peter Ohlin. Tom Hurka gave me very helpful advice
at several important points while I was working on the volume, as did John
Fischer. I am sure that there are people who I have forgotten to mention, and I
would like to thank them while apologizing for my memory. Many people gave
me helpful advice about the introduction. I thank them by name in a note to
that chapter.
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Contributors, xiii
Introduction: Metaethics and Normative Ethics, 3
David Copp
Part I. Metaethics
1. Moral Realism,39
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord
2. Theological Voluntarism,63
Philip L. Quinn
3. Ethical Naturalism,91
Nicholas L. Sturgeon
4. Nonnaturalism,122
Jonathan Dancy
5. Antirealist Expressivism and Quasi-Realism,146
Simon Blackburn
6. Biology and Ethics,163
Philip Kitcher
7. Sensibility Theory and Projectivism,186
Justin D’Arms and Daniel Jacobson
8. Moral Sentimentalism and Moral Psychology,219
Michael Slote