Conversations on Ethics

ISBN-13: 9780199215379 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 272 str.

Alex Voorhoeve

Opis

Can we trust our intuitive judgments of right and wrong? Are moral judgments objective? What reason do we have to do what is right and avoid what is wrong? In Conversations on Ethics, Alex Voorhoeve elicits answers to these questions from eleven outstanding philosophers and social scientists:
Ken Binmore
Philippa Foot
Harry Frankfurt
Allan Gibbard
Daniel Kahneman
Frances Kamm
Alasdair MacIntyre
T. M. Scanlon
Peter Singer
David Velleman
Bernard Williams
The exchanges are direct, open, and sharp, and give a clear account of these thinkers' core ideas about ethics. They also provide unique insights into their intellectual development--how they became interested in ethics and how they conceived the ideas for which they became famous.
Conversations on Ethics will engage anyone interested in moral philosophy.

Recenzje

In the introduction to his first interview, Voorhoeve cites Nietzsche's dictum that all great problems demand great love... Nietzsche was a hard man to please. But he would have felt some satisfaction had he encountered Voorhoeve's eleven interviews. His philosophers are passionate devotees of their own moral systems. They fight for their theories, defending them ferociously and lovingly... Each of them argues his or her case convincingly. Almost always, one falls in with their reasoning - at least, this is what happened to me. But, of course, this leads to inconsistency. For the difference in their views is far too great. This is bewildering, and teaches us a good lesson: not to be unmovable in one's attachments to one's moral views... As the book progresses, Voorhoeve shows how difficult moral calculation and justification of one's views to others is... Puzzling and fascinating.

O autorze

Alex Voorhoeve is Senior Lecturer in philosophy at the London School of Economics. In 2008-9 he was a Fellow at Harvard University's Centre for Ethics. He has written on ideals of equality and responsibility, on well-being, and on the theory of rational choice. His articles have appeared in Philosophy & Public Affairs, Economics and Philosophy, and The Journal of Political Philosophy, among others.