Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality
"Only in the darkest of hours will a few seriously entertain the haunting possibility, almost unthinkable, that at the end of the day our best sense of the world, and of what is abidingly good, is an error." Does then the universe really have a guiding moral structure which is at once integral to the quality of human life? Empirical Realism is Clark's sustained, challenging and original argument for moral realism, one which not only provides the badly needed account of normativity—of what it is exactly that constitutes genuine moral obligation—but which also anchors that account within a comprehensive philosophical theory. The author's position, rigorously developed and defended, provides a trek through issues central to classical and contemporary philosophy. Masterfully navigating his readers through the global realism/antirealism debate in Parts I and II, his erudition—sensitive yet unflinching—knows no shortcuts. David Clark's first book goes on to show how intrinsic value, a value which is inherent and not conferred, is the independently real feature which both generates obligation and is the ground by which it is to be honored. This three-Part text has direct implications for metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, value theory, environmental ethics, and moral theory generally.
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Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality
"Only in the darkest of hours will a few seriously entertain the haunting possibility, almost unthinkable, that at the end of the day our best sense of the world, and of what is abidingly good, is an error." Does then the universe really have a guiding moral structure which is at once integral to the quality of human life? Empirical Realism is Clark's sustained, challenging and original argument for moral realism, one which not only provides the badly needed account of normativity—of what it is exactly that constitutes genuine moral obligation—but which also anchors that account within a comprehensive philosophical theory. The author's position, rigorously developed and defended, provides a trek through issues central to classical and contemporary philosophy. Masterfully navigating his readers through the global realism/antirealism debate in Parts I and II, his erudition—sensitive yet unflinching—knows no shortcuts. David Clark's first book goes on to show how intrinsic value, a value which is inherent and not conferred, is the independently real feature which both generates obligation and is the ground by which it is to be honored. This three-Part text has direct implications for metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, value theory, environmental ethics, and moral theory generally.
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Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality

Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality

by David Clark
Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality

Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality

by David Clark

Hardcover

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Overview

"Only in the darkest of hours will a few seriously entertain the haunting possibility, almost unthinkable, that at the end of the day our best sense of the world, and of what is abidingly good, is an error." Does then the universe really have a guiding moral structure which is at once integral to the quality of human life? Empirical Realism is Clark's sustained, challenging and original argument for moral realism, one which not only provides the badly needed account of normativity—of what it is exactly that constitutes genuine moral obligation—but which also anchors that account within a comprehensive philosophical theory. The author's position, rigorously developed and defended, provides a trek through issues central to classical and contemporary philosophy. Masterfully navigating his readers through the global realism/antirealism debate in Parts I and II, his erudition—sensitive yet unflinching—knows no shortcuts. David Clark's first book goes on to show how intrinsic value, a value which is inherent and not conferred, is the independently real feature which both generates obligation and is the ground by which it is to be honored. This three-Part text has direct implications for metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, value theory, environmental ethics, and moral theory generally.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780739107669
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 11/25/2003
Pages: 417
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.12(d)

About the Author

David K. Clark is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Montana. Specializing in ethics, metaphysics and philosophy of mind-with an emphasis on literature and film-he teaches both philosophy and liberal studies on a part-time basis.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview
Chapter 2 In Search of the World Well Lost: Realism vs Antirealism
Chapter 3 The Midas Touch: The Enigma of Empiricism and the Dogma of Pragmatism
Chapter 4 Harnessing the Midas Touch: The World Recovered
Chapter 5 Psychological Meaning: Intrinsic to Internal Processes?
Chapter 6 Enjoying Your Experience and Having It Too
Chapter 7 The Transition to Morality
Chapter 8 The Face of Moral Realism
Chapter 9 Moral Realism Under Fire
Chapter 10 No Exit: The Exclusive Disjunction
Chapter 11 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Monism vs Pluralism
Chapter 12 Beyond Focal Things and Practices
Chapter 13 Dignity of Meaning and Being
Chapter 14 Adjudication: Convergence and Vision
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