Oxford University Press, USA
Articulating the Moral Community: Toward a Constructive Ethical Pragmatism
Articulating the Moral Community: Toward a Constructive Ethical Pragmatism
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Is morality fixed objectively, independently of all human judgment, or do we invent right and wrong? Articulating the Moral Community argues that neither of these simple answers is correct. Its central thesis is that, working within zones of objective indeterminacy, the moral community-the
community of all persons-has the authority to introduce new moral norms. Unlike political communities, which are centralized, non-inclusive, and backed by coercion, the moral community is decentralized, inclusive, and not coercively backed. This book explains in detail how its structure arises from efforts by individuals to work out intelligently with one another how to
respond to morally important concerns. Developing a novel theory of dyadic rights and duties based on this phenomenon, the book argues that conscientious efforts of this kind provide moral input, authoritative only over the parties involved. After sufficient uptake and reflective acceptance by the
moral community, however, these innovations become new moral norms. This account of the moral community's moral authority is motivated by, and supports, a type of normative ethical theory, constructive ethical pragmatism, which-to use an unfashionable distinction defended in the book-rejects the consequentialist claim that rightness is to be defined as a function of
goodness and the deontological claim that principles of right stand fixed, independently of the good. It holds, rather, that what we ought to do depends on our continuing efforts to specify the right and the good in light of each other.
Author: Henry Richardson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/28/2018
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780190247744
Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2019
community of all persons-has the authority to introduce new moral norms. Unlike political communities, which are centralized, non-inclusive, and backed by coercion, the moral community is decentralized, inclusive, and not coercively backed. This book explains in detail how its structure arises from efforts by individuals to work out intelligently with one another how to
respond to morally important concerns. Developing a novel theory of dyadic rights and duties based on this phenomenon, the book argues that conscientious efforts of this kind provide moral input, authoritative only over the parties involved. After sufficient uptake and reflective acceptance by the
moral community, however, these innovations become new moral norms. This account of the moral community's moral authority is motivated by, and supports, a type of normative ethical theory, constructive ethical pragmatism, which-to use an unfashionable distinction defended in the book-rejects the consequentialist claim that rightness is to be defined as a function of
goodness and the deontological claim that principles of right stand fixed, independently of the good. It holds, rather, that what we ought to do depends on our continuing efforts to specify the right and the good in light of each other.
Author: Henry Richardson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/28/2018
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780190247744
Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2019
About the Author
Henry S. Richardson is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. From 2008-18, he was the editor of Ethics. His previous books include Practical Reasoning about Final Ends (1994), Democratic Autonomy (2002), and Moral Entanglements (2012). He has held fellowships sponsored by the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University.
