Moral Knowledge?: New Readings in Moral Epistemology - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195089898 ISBN 13: 9780195089899

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

In Moral Knowledge?: New Readings in Moral Epistemology, editors Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Mark Timmons bring together eleven newly written essays by distinguished moral philosophers exploring the nature and possibility of moral knowledge. Each essay represents a major position within the exciting field of moral epistemology in which a proponent of the position presents and defends his or her view and locates it vis-a-vis competing views.
The first chapter, written by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, provides a framework for understanding the basic concepts and viewpoints in moral epistemology and presents a limited skeptical challenge to the justification of moral beliefs. The following essays represent various options in response to moral skepticism. Peter Railton and Simon Blackburn take different stances on moral truth and realism, Robert Audi defends a version of intuitionism, and Geoffrey Sayre-McCord adopts coherentism, while R.M. Hare combines elements of both foundationalism and coherentism. Richard Brandt discusses the relevance of empirical science to moral knowledge, Christopher Morris develops a contractarian account of moral justification, and David Copp bases moral knowledge on rational choices by societies. Margaret Urban Walker aruges for a feminist perspective on moral knowledge, and Mark Timmons expounds contextualism in moral epistemology.
The lively and clear selections do not presuppose specialized knowledge of philosophy, and the philosophical vocabulary used throughout the anthology is uniform, in order to facilitate understanding by those not familiar with the field. The first chapter includes a sustained critical discussion of the major views represented in the following chapters, thereby furnishing beginning students with appropriate background to understand the selections. The volume is further enhanced by an index and an extensive bibliography, which is divided into sections corresponding to the chapters of the book. Moral Knowledge provides the most up-to-date work on moral knowledge and justification and serves as an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate courses.

About this title

About the Author:

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Professor of Philosophy, Dartmouth College. Mark Timmons, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis.

Review:

"[Moral Knowledge] is superb. All the collected essays are of high quality, and the anthology can make an ideal text for advanced courses in moral theory. Many ethics teachers will be be grateful. [Sinnott-Armstrong's] essay is a gem."--T. K. Seung, The University of Texas at Austin

"Very useful text. All the core readings arranged topically to facilitate a content-organized course."--Andrew Pessin, Kenyon College

"This is a very interesting collection of viewpoints regarding moral epistemology that illustrates the current issues and arguments."--Carl Wellman, Washington University

"A mature and thoroughgoing treatment of the epistemic status of normative propositions. To date I have not seen a better treatment of meta-ethical issues."--S.N. Fratantaro, Providence College

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195089898
• ISBN 13: 9780195089899
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Sinnott-Armstrong Walter, Timmons Mark