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22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory

[the need for, and value of, formal ethical systems]

28 ideas
What knowledge is required to live well? [Plato]
We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good [Aristotle]
We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle [Aristotle]
There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation [Aristotle]
Good and evil are what please us; goodness and badness the powers causing them [Hobbes]
There couldn't be a moral rule of which a man could not justly demand a reason [Locke]
We should no more expect ethical theory to produce good people than aesthetics to produce artists [Schopenhauer]
The very idea of a critique of morality is regarded as immoral! [Nietzsche]
I doubt whether ethics is part of philosophy [Russell]
Moral theories are all meta-ethical, and are neutral as regards actual conduct [Ayer]
Moral judgements cannot be the logical consequence of a moral philosophy [Ayer]
Discussing ethics is pointless; moral people behave badly, and integrity doesn't need rules [Camus]
Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO]
Ranking order of desires reveals nothing, because none of them may be considered important [Frankfurt]
Kant and Mill both try to explain right and wrong, without a divine lawgiver [Taylor,R]
Morality based on 'forbid', 'permit' and 'require' implies someone who does these things [Taylor,R]
Philosophers try to produce ethical theories because they falsely assume that ethics can be simple [Williams,B]
Moral functionalism says moral terms get their meaning from their role in folk morality [Jackson]
Which are prior - thin concepts like right, good, ought; or thick concepts like kindness, equity etc.? [Jackson]
There is no one theory of how to act (or what to believe) [Nagel]
Deep ethical theory is very controversial, but we have to live with higher ethical practice [Walzer]
We still have the appearance and language of morality, but we no longer understand it [MacIntyre]
Unlike expressions of personal preference, evaluative expressions do not depend on context [MacIntyre]
Moral judgements now are anachronisms from a theistic age [MacIntyre]
Some philosophers always want more from morality; for others, nature is enough [Blackburn]
Modern moral theory concerns settling conflicts, rather than human fulfilment [Zagzebski]
The problems is not justifying ethics, but motivating it. Why should a self seek its good? [Critchley]
There is a new sort of moral scepticism, about the possibility of moral theories [Statman]