The Routledge Guidebook to Moore's Principia Ethica

by Susana Nuccetelli

Overview

G.E. Moore’s Principia Ethica is a landmark publication in twentieth-century moral philosophy. Through focusing on the origin and evolution of his main doctrines, this guidebook makes it clear that Moore was an innovator whose provocative take on traditional philosophical problems ignited heated debates among philosophers. Principia Ethica is an important text for those attempting to understand and engage with some major philosophical debates in ethics today.

The Routledge Guidebook to Moore's Principia Ethica provides a comprehensive introduction to this historic text, examining key Moorean themes including:

• ethical non-naturalism
• the naturalistic fallacy
• the Open Question Argument
• moral ontology and epistemology
• ideal utilitarianism
• vindictive punishment and organicity
• moral intuition for epistemic justification in ethics
• theory of value

Ideal for anyone wanting to understand and gain perspective on Moore’s seminal work, the book is essential reading for students of moral philosophy, metaethics, normative ethics, philosophical analysis, and related fields.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138818491
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/17/2021
Series:	The Routledge Guides to the Great Books
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x (d)

About the Author

Susana Nuccetelli is Professor of Philosophy at St. Cloud State University, USA. Her most recent book is An Introduction to Latin American Philosophy (2020), and she is the author of Engaging Bioethics: An Introduction with Case Studies (with Gary Seay, Routledge, 2017) among other works.

Table of Contents

Preface viii

Acknowledgments xi

List of abbreviations xii

1 Life and work Gary Seay 1

1.1 Growing up 1

1.2 Early years at Cambridge 3

1.3 The philosopher's philosopher 14

Notes 20

Suggested reading 23

2 Principia Ethica in its context Gary Seay 25

2.1 The non-expert readers of Principia Ethica 26

2.2 Practical ethics: reformist for some, too conservative for others 29

2.3 From absolute idealism to non-naturalistic realism 33

Notes 46

Suggested reading 48

3 Philosophy of Ethics 52

3.1 The subject matter of ethics 53

3.2 Core theses of Moore's philosophy of ethics 57

Notes 66

Suggested reading 67

4 Moral language and thought 71

4.1 Moore's moral semantics in context 72

4.2 A goodness-centered semantical minimalism 78

Notes 86

Suggested reading 88

5 The Open Question Argument Gary Seay 91

5.1 Reconstructing Principia's Open Question Argument (OQA) 91

5.2 Assessing the Open Question Argument 103

5.3 Recasting the Open Question Argument 108

Notes 111

Suggested reading 113

6 The naturalistic fallacy Gary Seay 116

6.1 Reconstructing Moore's naturalistic fallacy charge 116

6.2 Has anyone committed the naturalistic fallacy? 122

Notes 132

Suggested reading 134

7 Moral knowledge 137

7.1 Natural/non-natural: an epistemological criterion 137

7.2 Against moral intuitionism: the causal and the reliability objections 148

7.3 Evolutionary debunking arguments 151

Notes 154

Suggested reading 156

8 Moral properties and truths 160

8.1 Natural/non-natural: a metaphysical criterion 160

8.2 Objections to metaphysical non-naturalism 167

Notes 177

Suggested reading 178

9 Intrinsic value 181

9.1 The attributes of Moorean goodness 181

9.2 Challenges to Moorean goodness 187

Notes 196

Suggested reading 197

10 Moral obligation 200

10.1 Moral and non-moral obligation 201

10.2 Obligation, value, and practical reason 210

Notes 218

Suggested reading 219

11 Normative ethics and theory of value 221

11.1 Ideal consequentialism, classical utilitarianism, and ethical egoism 221

11.2 Value pluralism and holism 234

11.3 The method of isolation 244

Notes 246

Suggested reading 247

Epilogue: the legacy of G. E. Moore and Principia Ethica 251

Bibliography 257

Index 273