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Single Idea 4110
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 2. Duty
]
Full Idea
Obligation and duty look backwards; the acts they require lie in the future, but the reasons for those acts lie in the fact that I have already promised, the job I have undertaken, the position I am already in.
Gist of Idea
Obligation and duty look backwards (because of a promise or job), although the acts are in the future
Source
Bernard Williams (Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy [1985], Ch. 1)
Book Ref
Williams,Bernard: 'Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy' [Fontana 1985], p.8
A Reaction
Maybe the central issue in morality is forwards versus backwards. It reflects two types of human temperament. Tomorrow is another day. Spilt milk.
The
25 ideas
from 'Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'
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4114
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Philosophers try to produce ethical theories because they falsely assume that ethics can be simple
[Williams,B]
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4110
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Obligation and duty look backwards (because of a promise or job), although the acts are in the future
[Williams,B]
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4112
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A crucial feature of moral thought is second-order desire - the desire to have certain desires
[Williams,B]
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4113
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'Deon' in Greek means what one must do; there was no word meaning 'duty'
[Williams,B]
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4116
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A weakness of contractual theories is the position of a person of superior ability and power
[Williams,B]
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4121
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Why should I think of myself as both the legislator and the citizen who follows the laws?
[Williams,B]
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4122
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If the self becomes completely impartial, it no longer has enough identity to worry about its interests
[Williams,B]
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4120
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It is an error of consequentialism to think we just aim at certain states of affairs; we also want to act
[Williams,B]
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4124
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Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and is immune to the inverse square law
[Williams,B]
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4128
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Intuitionism has been demolished by critics, and no longer looks interesting
[Williams,B]
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4132
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The category of person is a weak basis for ethics, because it is not fixed but comes in degrees
[Williams,B]
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4131
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Most women see an early miscarriage and a late stillbirth as being very different in character
[Williams,B]
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4133
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Speciesism isn't like racism, because the former implies a viewpoint which belongs to no one
[Williams,B]
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4134
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The weakness of prescriptivism is shown by "I simply don't like staying at good hotels"
[Williams,B]
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4135
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Some ethical ideas, such as 'treachery' and 'promise', seem to express a union of facts and values
[Williams,B]
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4244
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It is very confused to deduce a nonrelativist morality of universal toleration from relativism
[Williams,B]
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4243
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Our ability to react to an alien culture shows that ethical thought extends beyond cultural boundaries
[Williams,B]
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4245
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Ethical conviction must be to some extent passive, and can't just depend on the will and decisions
[Williams,B]
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4246
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Taking responsibility won't cure ethical uncertainty by; we are uncertain what to decide
[Williams,B]
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4247
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It is a mark of our having ethical values that we aim to reproduce them in our children
[Williams,B]
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4252
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Promise keeping increases reliability, by making deliberation focus on something which would be overlooked
[Williams,B]
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4248
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Not all moral deliberations lead to obligations; some merely reveal what 'may' be done
[Williams,B]
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4249
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"Ought implies can" is a famous formula in connection with moral obligation
[Williams,B]
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4250
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The concept of a 'duty to myself' is fraudulent
[Williams,B]
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22355
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In the realist view, the real external world explains how it (and perceptions of it) are possible
[Williams,B]
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