Description
Book SynopsisWhat makes something morally right? Where do our ethical standards come from? Are they relative to cultures or timeless and universal? Are there any objective moral facts? What is goodness? If there are moral facts, how do we learn about them? What do we mean when we say someone ought to do something? These are all questions in metaethics, the branch of ethics that investigates the status of morality, the nature of ethical value, the possibility of ethical knowledge, and the meaning of ethical statements. To the uninitiated it can appear abstract and far removed from its two more concrete cousins, ethical theory and applied ethics, yet it is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting areas of ethics.
What is this thing called Metaethics? demystifies this important subject and is ideal for students coming to it for the first time. Beginning with a brief overview of metaethics and the development of a conceptual toolkit, Matthew Chrisman introduces and assesses the foll
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Praise for the First Edition:
'This is an outstanding introductory text that combines clear, concise, and detailed coverage of all of the traditional metaethical positions, with original and distinctive treatments of new developments in metaethics, and with a fascinating discussion of how metaethical thinking relates to more broadly normative issues. It will be an excellent resource for students and their teachers alike.' - Michael Brady, University of Glasgow, UK
Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition Introduction 1. Four Key Issues 2. Naturalism 3. Nonnaturalism 4. Error Theory and Fictionalism 5. Expressivism 6. Summary and Chart 7. Theories That Are Hard to Classify in Traditional Terms 8. Refocusing Metaethics? Glossary of Terms Index
