Oxford University Press, USA
Exemplarist Moral Theory
Exemplarist Moral Theory
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In this book Linda Zagzebski presents an original moral theory based on direct reference to exemplars of goodness, modeled on the Putnam-Kripke theory which revolutionized semantics in the seventies. In Exemplarist Moral Theory, exemplars are identified through the emotion of admiration, which
Zagzebski argues is both a motivating emotion and an emotion whose cognitive content permits the mapping of the moral domain around the features of exemplars. Using examples of heroes, saints, and sages, Zagzebski shows how narratives of exemplars and empirical work on the most admirable persons can
be incorporated into the theory for both the theoretical purpose of generating a comprehensive theory, and the practical purpose of moral education and self-improvement. All basic moral terms, including good person, virtue, good life, right act, and wrong act are defined by the motives,
ends, acts, or judgments of exemplars, or persons like that. The theory also generates an account of moral learning through emulation of exemplars, and Zagzebski defends a principle of the division of moral linguistic labor, which gives certain groups of people in a linguistic community special
functions in identifying the extension or moral terms, spreading the stereotype associated with the term through the community, or providing the reasoning supporting judgments using those terms. The theory is therefore semantically externalist in that the meaning of moral terms is determined by
features of the world outside the mind of the user, including features of exemplars and features of the social linguistic network linking users of the terms to exemplars. The book ends with suggestions about versions of the theory that are forms of moral realism, including a version that supports
the existence of necessary a posteriori truths in ethics.
Author: Linda Zagzebski
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 03/24/2017
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780190655846
Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2017
Zagzebski argues is both a motivating emotion and an emotion whose cognitive content permits the mapping of the moral domain around the features of exemplars. Using examples of heroes, saints, and sages, Zagzebski shows how narratives of exemplars and empirical work on the most admirable persons can
be incorporated into the theory for both the theoretical purpose of generating a comprehensive theory, and the practical purpose of moral education and self-improvement. All basic moral terms, including good person, virtue, good life, right act, and wrong act are defined by the motives,
ends, acts, or judgments of exemplars, or persons like that. The theory also generates an account of moral learning through emulation of exemplars, and Zagzebski defends a principle of the division of moral linguistic labor, which gives certain groups of people in a linguistic community special
functions in identifying the extension or moral terms, spreading the stereotype associated with the term through the community, or providing the reasoning supporting judgments using those terms. The theory is therefore semantically externalist in that the meaning of moral terms is determined by
features of the world outside the mind of the user, including features of exemplars and features of the social linguistic network linking users of the terms to exemplars. The book ends with suggestions about versions of the theory that are forms of moral realism, including a version that supports
the existence of necessary a posteriori truths in ethics.
Author: Linda Zagzebski
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 03/24/2017
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780190655846
Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2017
About the Author
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski is George Lynn Cross Research Professor, and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma. She is the author of Epistemic Authority (2012).
