Robert Nozick’s Evolutionist Turn in Ethics

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
Radu Uszkai ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Moral Motivation ◽  
Robert Nozick ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Moral Philosophers

The purpose of the present study is that of examining what I call Robert Nozick’s “evolutionist turn” in ethics. More specifically, my aim is to provide an answer to the following question: what type of ethical theory does Robert Nozick sketch in his last book, Invariances? My first objective will be that of delineating the philosophical framework which will accommodate my future discussion, highlighting the distinction between the metaphysical and scientific approaches to ethics as proposed by Ken Binmore, but also Emanuel Socaciu's taxonomy of ethical theories, which stems from the particular way in which moral philosophers tackle the nature of ethical norms and moral motivation. I then set forth to show that, in the philosophical framework previously described, Robert Nozick's approach from Anarchy, State, and Utopia should be seen as a metaphysical one. The last and most important part of my study aims to show how Nozick's “evolutionist turn” took place and developed, from his perspective on rationality in The Nature of Rationality, to his ethical theory advanced in Invariances.

scholarly journals Towards construction of the richer concept of justice and the effective concept of care

Impact ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
pp. 35-37
Author(s):  
Tetsuhiko Shinagawa
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Justice And Care ◽  
Modern Orthodox ◽  
The Needy

Professor Tetsuhiko Shinagawa is a professor of philosophy and ethics at the Faculty of Letters, Kansai University, Japan, who is interested in the foundations of ethics. He believes that modern orthodox ethical theories such as liberalism and deontology are founded on justice and right. But he sees flaws in these theories as they presuppose that society consists of equal and self-sufficient members, which is not the case. He is interested in ethical theories that are founded on norms other than justice and can be applied to relation with asymmetry of power, specifically Carol Gilligan's ethic of care and Hans Jonas' principle of responsibility. The former is a normative ethical theory that stems from the interconnected nature of the human condition and surrounds the need for responsiveness to the vulnerability of human beings, while the latter posits that human survival is dependent on our ability to care for the planet as the home of future generations, with our actions having a direct impact on the Earth's future. Shinagawa is investigating how the ethical norms of justice and care can be applied to social issues and aid vulnerable members of society. The two ethical norms are contrasted but mutually supplementing and Shinagawa is interested in how they can lead to overlapping guidelines for aiding the needy as an actual social issue, transforming their respective conceptions. This research is looking to overcome limitations associated with the two social norms and combine the two norms in order to arrive at a richer concept of justice and an effective concept of care.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Fedyk
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Psychological Organization ◽  
Different Levels

This chapter rearticulates many of the major ideas and arguments in the proceeding chapters. But it also connects one of the primary conclusions of the book up with a debate in ethics over what the structure and form of ethical theories should look like. The proceeding chapters show that one possible form that an ethical theory can take is a loose confederacies of different models and frameworks that apply to different levels of social and psychological organization.

Ethics in Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Bulley
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
The Way

Ethics and foreign policy have long been considered different arenas, which can only be bridged with great analytical and practical difficulty. However, with the rise of post-positivist approaches to foreign policy, much greater attention has been paid to the way that ethical norms and moral values are embedded within the way states understand their own actions and interests, both enabling and constraining their behavior. Turning to these approaches raises a different question to whether ethics and foreign policy can mix, that of how best to understand, analyze, and critique the role that ethics inevitably play within foreign policy making? What are required are perspectives which, instead of constructing an ethical theory in the abstract and applying it to a concrete situation, start from the ethics of the foreign policy arena itself. Two ways of looking at ethics are especially useful in this regard: a virtue-ethics approach and a relational-ethics approach. These can be best explored by observing how they work in a particular foreign policy context, such as the highly controversial U.K. decision to join the invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003. This was a policy where ethics came particularly to the fore in both the decision-making process and its justification. The case study can therefore help show the types of questions virtue and relational ethics ask, the way they work as analytical and critical frameworks, and the problems they raise for the role of ethics in foreign policy. They also point toward important future directions for research in the area.

Moral Failure

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-659
Author(s):  
Hanno Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Moral Motivation ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Immoral Behavior ◽  
Moral Failure ◽  
Situational Pressures ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Moral Philosophers

In his most recent book, Daniel Batson develops a psychological theory of moral motivation by looking at moral failure. Even under favorable conditions, Batson argues, people frequently behave immorally. In addition to defects of character or judgment and situational pressures, a lack of moral integrity plays an important role in explaining moral failure. Batson’s book sheds light on the most common sources of immoral behavior, providing moral philosophers with the resources to properly target their reasons to be moral.

Biotechnology: The Ethics

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
T B Mepham
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Ethical Theories

Few people question the basis of their moral viewpoints, yet if science is to be applied ethically it is necessary to subject these viewpoints to rational analysis. The paper provides an overview of prominent ethical theories (deontological and consequentalist) and their impact on novel and prospective animal biotechnologies. These theories are applied to the principles of: autonomy, justice, nonmaleficence and beneficence in relation to the interests of animals, the environment and humans.Deontological approaches include ‘rights’-based theories (often derived intuitively or from scriptural sources) and ‘contractualist’ theories, dependent on an ‘unwritten contract’ between rational beings to ensure fairness. For consequentialists (eg utilitarians), it is the outcome of actions that determines their ethical value. Few people, consciously or unconsciously, consistently employ a single ethical theory, but there is often much concordance between actions based on the different theories. Except for some intuitionists, ethicists emphasise the role of rationality in ethical theory; for even though intuition is an important element, many consider that universalizability of ethical theories entails the establishment of a ‘reflective equilibrium’

scholarly journals Ethical Theories and Moral Guidance

Utilitas ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEKKA VÄYRYNEN
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Ought Implies Can ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Moral Guidance

Let the Guidance Constraint be the following norm for evaluating ethical theories: Other things being at least roughly equal, ethical theories are better to the extent that they provide adequate moral guidance. I offer an account of why ethical theories are subject to the Guidance Constraint, if indeed they are. We can explain central facts about adequate moral guidance, and their relevance to ethical theory, by appealing to certain forms of autonomy and fairness. This explanation is better than explanations that feature versions of the principle that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’. In closing, I address the objection that my account is questionable because it makes ethical theories subject not merely to purely theoretical but also to morally substantive norms.

Instrument for Verification of Ethical Theories in Physical Culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91
Author(s):  
Miloš Marković ◽  
Božo Bokan
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Physical Culture ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Hypothetical Model ◽  
Statistical Indicators

AbstractThis study tested an instrument entitled “Physical Culture and Ethics” which consisted of 44 statements to which subjects responded on a Likert-type five-point scale. The statements reflected the ethical theories of Aristotle (14 statements), Kant (14 statements) and Mill (16 statements).The hypothetical model of ethical theories was verified on a sample of 163 students at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Belgrade (119 male students and 44 female students), attending all years of study (n1=22, n2=34, n3=36, n4=48, n5=23). We hypothesized that students would display greater maturity in terms of education and reaffirm their positions towards ethical issues in physical culture as they progressed in their studies, and also that the male and the female students had their specific moral outlooks on the reality of physical culture.When comparing the basic statistical indicators of students’ responses to statements reflecting the ethical theories (Aristotle, Kant, Mill) against the year of study students were in (mean value and standard deviation) – certain variation in values from the first to the fifth year of study was observed, thus confirming the hypothesis.When comparing the basic statistical indicators of male and female students’ responses to statements reflecting the ethical theories (Aristotle, Kant, Mill) – female students’ results were better on all scales, and Aristotle’s ethical theory showed a statistical significance, thus confirming the second hypothesis as well.

Business Ethics and Extant Social Contracts

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Dunfee
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Priority Rules ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethical Norms

Extant social contracts, deriving from communities of individuals, constitute a significant source of ethical norms in business. When found consistent with general ethical theories through the application of a filtering test, these real social contracts generate prima facie duties of compliance on the part of those who expressly or impliedly consent to the terms of the social contract, and also on the part of those who take advantage of the instrumental value of the social contracts. Businesspeople typically participate in multiple communities and, as a consequence, encounter conflicting ethical norms. Priority rules can be devised to resolve such conflicts. The framework of extant social contracts merges normative and theoretical research in business ethics and specifies a domain for empirical studies.

Analytic and Existential Ethics

Dialogue ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
C. D. MacNiven
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
American Philosophy ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
Logical Study ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Moral Philosophers

“What has ethical theory to do with the moral life?”. This is a question which continually confronts moral philosophers, especially those who identify themselves with the analytic tradition of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Continental European moral philosophers and those Anglo-Americans who identify themselves with them are seldom confronted with this question. Existentialism, for example, has an obvious connection with the moral life which contemporary analytic philosophy seems to lack. For many people outside professional philosophic circles analytic moral philosophy appears completely irrelevant to the moral life. Since the analysts conceive ethics, to quote R. M. Hare, as “the logical study of the language of morals”, they never seem to get past linguistic analysis to the concrete moral problems which are its main incentive in the first place.

Meanings and Criteria in Ethics

Philosophy ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 38 (146) ◽  
pp. 329-345
Author(s):  
Alan Gewirth
Keyword(s):  
Describing Function ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Primary Meaning ◽  
Invariance Argument ◽  
Moral Philosophers

In Recent years noncognitivist ethical theories have been supported by an argument which has come to be widely accepted among moral philosophers.1 According to this argument, an ethical term like ‘good’ has both a commending function and a describing function, but between these functions there is the important difference that the commending function alone is invariant while the describing function varies greatly. For many and different things may be called good—hammers, sunsets, paintings, missionaries, cannibals—but despite these differences in the descriptive criteria for applying the word to objects, ‘good’ retains a common meaning in all these uses, for in each case the word is being used to commend. The conclusion drawn, then, is that because of its being the sole invariant or common feature of every use of ‘good’, the commendatory function rather than the varying descriptive function must be the primary meaning of ‘good’. I shall refer to this as the commendatory invariance argument

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