Moral and other Values

Dieter Birnbacher

Abstract


What constitutes moral values and norms in comparison with other kinds of values and norms? What makes moral values different from political, aesthetic or personal values? At first sight, these questions seem to have an easy answer. On a closer look, however, difficulties abound. The concept of morality seems to defy a definition by necessary and sufficient conditions. By approaching the question ex negative, the article attempts to do away with a few "myths" about morality current in analytical meta-ethics and, in conclusion, to offer some suggestions of how the concept of morality might be explained without recourse to a definition per genus et differentiam.

Keywords


morality; moral values; definition; necessary and sufficient conditions

Full Text:

PDF

References


Blackburn S., Spreading the Word. Groundings in the Philosophy of Language, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1986.

Foot P., Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy, University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles 1978.

Hare R. M., Freedom and Reason, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1963.

Hume D., Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, [in:] D. Hume, Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1963.

Mackie J. L., Ethics. Inventing Right and Wrong, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1977.

Monro D. H., Empiricism and Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1967.

Singer P., The triviality of the debate over “is-ought” and the definition of “moral”, “American Philosophical Quarterly” 1973, No. 19, pp. 51–56.

Stone C. D., Earth and Other Ethics. The Case for Moral Pluralism, Harper & Row, New York 1987.

Tugendhat E., Drei Vorlesungen über Probleme der Ethik, [in:] E. Tugendhat, Probleme der Ethik, Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1984, pp. 57–131.

Tugendhat E., Vorlesungen über Ethik, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1993.

Tugendhat E., Dialog in Leticia, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1997.

Warnock G., The Object of Morality, Methuen, London 1971.

Wenz P., Minimal, Moderate, and Extreme Moral Pluralism, “Environmental Ethics” 1993, No. 15, pp. 61–74.

Wittgenstein L., Philosophical Investigations, transl. G. E. M. Amscombe, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1963.

Wittgenstein L., Vortrag über Ethik und andere kleine Schriften, transl. & ed. J. Schulte, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1989.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/kw.2013.8.43
Date of publication: 2015-07-07 04:48:50
Date of submission: 2015-07-07 03:20:40


Statistics


Total abstract view - 2214
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2015 Dieter Birnbacher

License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.pl