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Morality seems to play a special role in human life distinct from conventional norms, like those of etiquette, or simple preferences based on subjective tastes. There are various theories of the foundations of morality, some of which treat morality as "subjective" in an important way. "Moral realism" is however a family of theories that take morality to have an objective factual basis, such that morality is not "up to us" and is not "under our control". The contributions in this Oxford Handbook explore the central ideas and themes constituting moral realism and defend particular views about it.
About the author
Paul Bloomfield is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut and works on issues in moral philosophy and metaphysics. He is the author of Moral Reality (2001), Morality and Self-Interest (2008), and The Virtues of Happiness (2014).
David Copp is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at the University of California, Davis. He is author of Morality, Normativity, and Society (1995) and Morality in a Natural World (2007), and he has edited several anthologies, including The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory (2006). He is editor of a monograph series with OUP called “Oxford Moral Theory.”
Summary
Morality seems to play a special role in human life distinct from conventional norms, like those of etiquette, or simple preferences based on subjective tastes. There are various theories of the foundations of morality, some of which treat morality as
