In this seminar we will explore what has come to be called the moral realism debate. We'll be rushing through quite a bit of material but our ultimate aim will be to move the arguments forward, past where they currently stand.
Main texts:
Brink, David, Moral Realism and the Foundations
of Ethics
Gibbard, Allen, Wise Choices, Apt Feelings:
A Theory of Normative Judgment
Mackie, John, Ethics: Inventing Right and
Wrong
Sayre-McCord, Geoff (ed.), Essays on Moral
Realism
Smith, Michael, The Moral Problem
plus a selection of papers (e.g. by Blackburn,
Dworkin, McDowell, Railton and Wiggins)
TENTATIVE Class Schedule
February:
6 Non-cognitivism and Expressivism
and the Error Theory
13 Practical Morality and Inert Reason
20 Being a Realist About Relativism
27 Moral Semantics
March:
6 Moral Properties: Supernatural,
Supervenient, or Superfluous?
13 SPRING BREAK
20 Moral Theory and Explanatory Impotence
27 Inference to the Best Justification and
Moral Epistemology
April:
3 Alternative Realisms
10 Alternative Anti-Realisms
17 The Current State of Play
24 Wrap-up
May:
1-9 *** FINAL EXAM WEEK ***