Ethics without Morals: In Defence of Amorality (Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory) - Hardcover

Marks, Joel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 041563556X ISBN 13: 9780415635561

Publisher: Routledge, 2012

Synopsis

In this volume, Marks offers a defense of amorality as both philosophically justified and practicably livable. In so doing, the book marks a radical departure from both the new atheism and the mainstream of modern ethical philosophy. While in synch with their underlying aim of grounding human existence in a naturalistic metaphysics, the book takes both to task for maintaining a complacent embrace of morality. Marks advocates wiping the slate clean of outdated connotations by replacing the language of morality with a language of desire.

The book begins with an analysis of what morality is and then argues that the concept is not instantiated in reality. Following this, the question of belief in morality is addressed: How would human life be affected if we accepted that morality does not exist? Marks argues that at the very least, a moralist would have little to complain about in an amoral world, and at best we might hope for a world that was more to our liking overall. An extended look at the human encounter with nonhuman animals serves as an illustration of amorality’s potential to make both theoretical and practical headway in resolving heretofore intractable ethical problems.

About this title

About the Author

Joel Marks is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of New Haven, USA and a Bioethics Center Scholar at Yale University, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 041563556X
• ISBN 13: 9780415635561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 150