Moral Sentimentalism

Informationen zum Autor Michael Slote is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami, and the author of Morals from Motives, (Oxford University Press 2007). Klappentext There has recently been a good deal of interest in moral sentimentalism, but most of that interest has been exclusively either in meta-ethical questions about the meaning of moral terms or in normative issues about benevolence and/or caring and their place in morality. In Moral Sentimentalism Michael Slote attempts to deal with both sorts of issues and to do so, primarily, in terms of the notion or phenomenon of empathy. Hume sought to do something like this over two centuries ago, though he didn't have the term "empathy" and used "sympathy" instead. Slote therefore attempts to give moral sentimentalism a second wind. By relying so systematically on empathy in its account of normative morality and in what it has to say about the meaning of moral vocabulary, Slote offers a unified overall ethical picture that can then be tested against ethical rationalism. Rationalism has recently dominated the scene in ethics, but by showing how sentimentalism can make coherent and intuitive sense of such preferred rationalist notions as autonomy, respect, and justice-and by showing how a sentimentalism based in empathy can deal with ethically significant aspects of the moral life that rationalism tends to ignore or skimp on-Slote hopes a wider and more active debate between rationalism and sentimentalism can be set in motion. There are signs that sentimentalist modes of thought are gaining new footholds on the way ethics is done, and this new book is very hopeful about these possibilities. Zusammenfassung There has recently been a good deal of interest in moral sentimentalism, but most of that interest has been exclusively either in meta-ethical questions about the meaning of moral terms or in normative issues about benevolence and/or caring and their place in morality. In Moral Sentimentalism Michael Slote attempts to deal with both sorts of issues and to do so, primarily, in terms of the notion or phenomenon of empathy. Hume sought to do something like this over two centuries ago, though he didn't have the term "empathy" and used "sympathy" instead. Slote therefore attempts to give moral sentimentalism a second wind. By relying so systematically on empathy in its account of normative morality and in what it has to say about the meaning of moral vocabulary, Slote offers a unified overall ethical picture that can then be tested against ethical rationalism. Rationalism has recently dominated the scene in ethics, but by showing how sentimentalism can make coherent and intuitive sense of such preferred rationalist notions as autonomy, respect, and justice-and by showing how a sentimentalism based in empathy can deal with ethically significant aspects of the moral life that rationalism tends to ignore or skimp on-Slote hopes a wider and more active debate between rationalism and sentimentalism can be set in motion. There are signs that sentimentalist modes of thought are gaining new footholds on the way ethics is done, and this new book is very hopeful about these possibilities. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1.: Empathy: Cement of the Moral Universe: 1. Introducing Empathy; 2. Empathy, Partiality, and Morality 2.: Moral Approval and Disapproval 3.: Empathy in Moral Judgment 4.: A New Kind of Reference-Fixing 5.: How to Derive "Ought" from "Is" 6.: The Use of Moral Judgments 7.: Between Motive and Morality 8.: Paternalism and Patriarchy: 1. Respect; 2. Autonomy; 3. When is Paternalism Justified? 9.: Justice: 1. The Empathy in Justice; 2. Distributive Social Justice; 3. International and Global Justice 10.: Empathy, Objectivity, and Rationality: 1. Introduction; 2. The Focus of Empathy; 3. Objectivity Based in Empathy; 4. Objectivity and Empath...

Product details

• Authors: Slote, Michael Slote, Slote Michael
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.01.2010
• EAN: 9780195391442
• ISBN: 978-0-19-539144-2
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy; PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy