The meta-ethics of normative ethics

This thesis is an attempt to answer the following question: Do our moral commitments commit us to constraints on what meta-ethical theories we find attractive? In order to answer this question, I first demonstrate that meta-ethical theories can be criticised on moral grounds. I then argue that co...

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Main Author: Scorzo, Greg
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2011
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12091/
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author Scorzo, Greg
author_facet Scorzo, Greg
author_sort Scorzo, Greg
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis is an attempt to answer the following question: Do our moral commitments commit us to constraints on what meta-ethical theories we find attractive? In order to answer this question, I first demonstrate that meta-ethical theories can be criticised on moral grounds. I then argue that correctness conditions for moral claims imply the thesis of explanatory moral realism. I do not claim that this is an argument for the truth of explanatory moral realism. Rather, I claim that this is an argument that moral realism is a moral commitment. I then look at two objections to the claim that moral claims can have built in commitments to a meta-ethical theory that takes a stand on the issue of moral realism. The first of these is a set of arguments that Simon Blackburn gives for quasi-realism. The second objection is a set of arguments given by Ronald Dworkin that attack the presuppositions of debates about realism in meta-ethics.
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spelling nottingham-120912025-02-28T11:17:26Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12091/ The meta-ethics of normative ethics Scorzo, Greg This thesis is an attempt to answer the following question: Do our moral commitments commit us to constraints on what meta-ethical theories we find attractive? In order to answer this question, I first demonstrate that meta-ethical theories can be criticised on moral grounds. I then argue that correctness conditions for moral claims imply the thesis of explanatory moral realism. I do not claim that this is an argument for the truth of explanatory moral realism. Rather, I claim that this is an argument that moral realism is a moral commitment. I then look at two objections to the claim that moral claims can have built in commitments to a meta-ethical theory that takes a stand on the issue of moral realism. The first of these is a set of arguments that Simon Blackburn gives for quasi-realism. The second objection is a set of arguments given by Ronald Dworkin that attack the presuppositions of debates about realism in meta-ethics. 2011 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12091/1/Greg_Scorzo_PDF_Phd_June_30th%2C_2011.pdf Scorzo, Greg (2011) The meta-ethics of normative ethics. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
spellingShingle Scorzo, Greg
The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title_full The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title_fullStr The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title_full_unstemmed The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title_short The meta-ethics of normative ethics
title_sort meta-ethics of normative ethics
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12091/