Meta-ethics, Moral Objectivity and Law

Meta-ethics, Moral Objectivity and Law PDF

Author: Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco

Publisher: Brill Mentis

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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The book shows the relevance of meta-ethical and metaphysical considerations to determine the nature of law and the connection between objective moral and legal judgements. The investigation analyses the legal theories of Ronald Dworkin, Jürgen Habermas and Michael Moore. The conclusion of the scrutiny is that the discussed views fail to explain the plausible links between objective moral and legal judgements. The lesson to learn from the failure of these philosophical perspectives is that we need to revise fundamental meta-ethical conceptions within law. In addition to the view that meta-ethical and metaphysical considerations play a central role in our understanding of objective moral and legal judgements, we enforce the idea that it is necessary to revise our meta-ethical and metaphysical premises in jurisprudence. Epistemic and meta-ethical abstinence in legal theory, in this way, is challenged by a number of criticisms. The outcome of our reflection is that in legal theory, as in many other disciplines, we need to take truth and objectivity seriously.

Objectivity in Law and Morals

Objectivity in Law and Morals PDF

Author: Brian Leiter

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0521554306

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The seven original essays included in this volume from 2000, written by some of the world's most distinguished moral and legal philosophers, offer a sophisticated perspective on issues about the objectivity of legal interpretation and judicial decision-making. They examine objectivity from both metaphysical and epistemological perspectives and develop a variety of approaches, constructive and critical, to the fundamental problems of objectivity in morality. One of the key issues explored is that of the alleged 'domain-specificity' of conceptions of objectivity, i.e. whether there is a conception of objectivity appropriate for ethics that is different in kind from the conception of objectivity appropriate for other areas of study. This volume considers the intersection between objectivity in ethics and objectivity in law. It presents a survey of live issues in metaethics, and examines their relevance to theorizing about law and adjudication.

Objectivity in Ethics and Law

Objectivity in Ethics and Law PDF

Author: Michael S. Moore

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13:

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This volume collects six of Michael Moore's influential studies on moral and legal objectivity. Presented in an accessible format, the essays are brought together by a thought-provoking introduction. Contents: Introduction ETHICS Moral reality Moral reality revisited Good without God LAW Law as justice The plain truth about legal truth Legal reality: a naturalist approach to legal ontology NAME INDEX.

Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics

Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics PDF

Author: Christopher Cowie

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 042984641X

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Comparisons between morality and other ‘companion’ disciplines – such as mathematics, religion, or aesthetics – are commonly used in philosophy, often in the context of arguing for the objectivity of morality. This is known as the ‘companions in guilt’ strategy. It has been the subject of much debate in contemporary ethics and metaethics. This volume, the first full length examination of companions in guilt arguments, comprises an introduction by the editors and a dozen new chapters by leading authors in the field. They examine the methodology of companions in guilt arguments and their use in responding to the moral error theory, as well as specific arguments that take mathematics, epistemic norms, or aesthetics as a ‘companion’, and the use of the companions in guilt strategy to vindicate claims to moral knowledge. Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics is essential reading for advanced students and researchers working in moral theory and metaethics, as well as those in epistemology and philosophy of mathematics concerned with the intersection of these subjects with ethics.

Dimensions of Normativity

Dimensions of Normativity PDF

Author: David Plunkett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-01-11

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0190640421

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Understood one way, the branch of contemporary philosophical ethics that goes by the label "metaethics" concerns certain second-order questions about ethics-questions not in ethics, but rather ones about our thought and talk about ethics, and how the ethical facts (insofar as there are any) fit into reality. Analogously, the branch of contemporary philosophy of law that is often called "general jurisprudence" deals with certain second order questions about law- questions not in the law, but rather ones about our thought and talk about the law, and how legal facts (insofar as there are any) fit into reality. Put more roughly (and using an alternative spatial metaphor), metaethics concerns a range of foundational questions about ethics, whereas general jurisprudence concerns analogous questions about law. As these characterizations suggest, the two sub-disciplines have much in common, and could be thought to run parallel to each other. Yet, the connections between the two are currently mostly ignored by philosophers, or at least under-scrutinized. The new essays collected in this book are aimed at changing this state of affairs. Dimensions of Normativity collects together works by metaethicists and legal philosophers that address a number of issues that are of common interest, with the goal of accomplishing a new rapprochement between the two sub-disciplines.

Moral Realism as a Moral Doctrine

Moral Realism as a Moral Doctrine PDF

Author: Matthew H. Kramer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2009-03-30

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9781444310634

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In this major new work, Matthew Kramer seeks to establish two mainconclusions. On the one hand, moral requirements are stronglyobjective. On the other hand, the objectivity of ethics is itselfan ethical matter that rests primarily on ethical considerations.Moral realism - the doctrine that morality is indeed objective - isa moral doctrine. Major new volume in our new series New Directions inEthics Takes on the big picture - defending the objectivity of ethicswhilst rejecting the grounds of much of the existing debate betweenrealists and anti-realists Cuts across both ethical theory and metaethics Distinguished by the quality of the scholarship and itsambitious range

What is this Thing Called Metaethics?

What is this Thing Called Metaethics? PDF

Author: Matthew Chrisman

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-11-10

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1315438321

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Are moral standards relative? Are there moral facts? What is goodness? If there moral facts are how do we learn about them? These are all questions about metaethics, the branch of ethics that studies ethical properties, statements, attitudes and judgements. To the uninitiated it can appear abstract and far removed from its two more brash cousins, ethical theory and applied ethics, yet it is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting areas of ethics. What is this thing called Metaethics? demystifies this important subject and is ideal for students coming to it for the first time. Beginning with a brief historical overview of metaethics Matthew Chrisman introduces and assesses the following key topics: moral reality: including questions about naturalism and non-naturalism, moral facts, and the distinction between realism and antirealism; moral language: does language represent reality? What mental states are expressed by moral statements? moral psychology: Hume's theory of motivation and the connection between moral judgement and motivation; moral knowledge: including moral disagreement, the distinction between internalist and externalist theories of knowledge, and theories of objectivity and relativism in metaethics; nonnaturalism; expressivism; error-theory; naturalism; contemporary theories and arguments in metaethics, including Derek Parfit, Simon Blackburn, John McDowell, Christine Korsgaard and Alan Gibbard; new directions in metaethics, such as 'metaepistemology' and 'metanormative theory'.

How Hume and Kant Reconstruct Natural Law

How Hume and Kant Reconstruct Natural Law PDF

Author: Kenneth R. Westphal

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0191064114

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Kenneth R. Westphal presents an original interpretation of Hume's and Kant's moral philosophies, the differences between which are prominent in current philosophical accounts. Westphal argues that focussing on these differences, however, occludes a decisive, shared achievement: a distinctive constructivist method to identify basic moral principles and to justify their strict objectivity, without invoking moral realism nor moral anti-realism or irrealism. Their constructivism is based on Hume's key insight that 'though the laws of justice are artificial, they are not arbitrary'. Arbitrariness in basic moral principles is avoided by starting with fundamental problems of social coördination which concern outward behaviour and physiological needs; basic principles of justice are artificial because solving those problems does not require appeal to moral realism (nor to moral anti-realism). Instead, moral cognitivism is preserved by identifying sufficient justifying reasons, which can be addressed to all parties, for the minimum sufficient legitimate principles and institutions required to provide and protect basic forms of social coördination (including verbal behaviour). Hume first develops this kind of constructivism for basic property rights and for government. Kant greatly refines Hume's construction of justice within his 'metaphysical principles of justice', whilst preserving the core model of Hume's innovative constructivism. Hume's and Kant's constructivism avoids the conventionalist and relativist tendencies latent if not explicit in contemporary forms of moral constructivism.

Moral Disagreement

Moral Disagreement PDF

Author: Rach Cosker-Rowland

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 0429957718

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Widespread moral disagreement raises ethical, epistemological, political, and metaethical questions. Is the best explanation of our widespread moral disagreements that there are no objective moral facts and that moral relativism is correct? Or should we think that just as there is widespread disagreement about whether we have free will but there is still an objective fact about whether we have it, similarly, moral disagreement has no bearing on whether morality is objective? More practically, is it arrogant to stick to our guns in the face of moral disagreement? Must we suspend belief about the morality of controversial actions such as eating meat and having an abortion? And does moral disagreement affect the laws that we should have? For instance, does disagreement about the justice of heavily redistributive taxation affect whether such taxation is legitimate? In this thorough and clearly written introduction to moral disagreement and its philosophical and practical implications, Rach Cosker-Rowland examines and assesses the following topics and questions: How does moral disagreement affect what we should do and believe in our day-to-day lives? Epistemic peerhood and moral disagreements with our epistemic peers Metaethics and moral disagreement Relativism, moral objectivity, moral realism, and non-cognitivism Moral disagreement and normative ethics Liberalism, democracy, and disagreement Moral compromise Moral uncertainty. Combining clear philosophical analysis with summaries of the latest research and suggestions for further reading, Moral Disagreement is ideal for students of ethics, metaethics, political philosophy, and philosophical topics that are closely related such as relativism and scepticism. It will also be of interest to those in related disciplines such as ethics and public policy and philosophy of law.

Law: Metaphysics, Meaning, and Objectivity

Law: Metaphysics, Meaning, and Objectivity PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 9401205655

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Papers in philosophy of law by some of the younger cutting-edge contributors to the field. Two sets of issues of crucial current importance are taken up. The first part deals with issues of meaning and objectivity in the metaphysics of law. The second part is about rights theory. This volume will be required reading for anyone interested in philosophy of law, and also of use for those with broader interests in ethics, metaethics, and social and political philosophy.