display all the ideas for this combination of texts
3 ideas
5355 | Cognitivists think morals are discovered by reason [Flanagan] |
Full Idea: Cognitivists think morals are discovered by reason. | |
From: Owen Flanagan (The Problem of the Soul [2002], p.301n) | |
A reaction: I take cognitivism to be (strictly) the view that morals are knowable in principle. Our intellects might not be up to the task (and so we might have to ask the gods what is right). There is also the possibility that morals might be known by intuition. |
6559 | Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Aristotle, by Fogelin] |
Full Idea: To the best of my knowledge (and somewhat to my surprise), Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal; however, he all but says it. | |
From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.1 | |
A reaction: When I read this I thought that this database would prove Fogelin wrong, but it actually supports him, as I can't find it in Aristotle either. Descartes refers to it in Med.Two. In Idea 5133 Aristotle does say that man is a 'social being'. But 22586! |
5336 | Ethics is the science of the conditions that lead to human flourishing [Flanagan] |
Full Idea: Ethics is the normative science that studies the objective conditions that lead to flourishing of persons. | |
From: Owen Flanagan (The Problem of the Soul [2002], p. 17) | |
A reaction: This is a nice slogan for the virtue theory account of the nature of ethics. I think it is the view with which I agree. I am intrigued that he has smuggled the word 'science' in, which is a nice challenge to conventional views of science. |