Ethics in the Gray Area: A Gradualist Theory of Right and Wrong

ISBN-13: 9781009336789 / Angielski

Martin Peterson

Opis

This first book-length discussion of the 'gray area' in ethics challenges the assumption that rightness and wrongness are binary properties. Including discussions of white lies and the permissibility of abortion, it introduces gradualist notions of right and wrong designed to answer practical questions about the gray area in ethics.

Recenzje

'Peterson provides a much needed clarification of what gradualism is, and makes a powerful case both that it is a decisive advance over alternatives, and that ethicists working within a broadly consequentialist framework are driven to it. He makes the case, moreover, that the ability of consequentialist theories – in particular his preferred version – to accommodate gradualism amounts to a real advantage of such theories over alternatives that eschew it. An important contribution to core debates in normative ethics and beyond. Paul Hurley, Claremont McKenna College

Spis treści

Preface; Introduction; 1. Meaning tracks use; 2. Conflicting reasons; 3. Conflicting sources of normativity; 4. The binary theory; 5. Moral indeterminacy and vagueness; 6. Normative ethics for gradualists; 7. Rational choice for gradualists; 8. Indeterminate and vague laws; 9. Depolarization; Conclusions; References; Index.