Philippa Foot's Metaethics (Elements in Ethics)

Description

This Element presents an interpretation and defence of Philippa Foot's ethical naturalism. It begins with the often neglected grammatical method that Foot derives from an interpretation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy. This method shapes her approach to understanding goodness as well as the role that she attributes to human nature in ethical judgment. Moral virtues understood as perfections of human powers are central to Foot's account of ethical judgment. The thrust of the interpretation offered here is that Foot's metaethics takes ethical judgment to be tied to our self-understanding as a sort of rational animal. Foot's metaethics thereby offers a compelling contemporary approach that preserves some of the best insights of the Aristotelian tradition in practical philosophy. Cover Title page Copyright page Philippa Foot’s Metaethics Contents 1 Introduction 2 Goodness and the Grammatical Method 2.1 The Grammar of Goodness 2.2 The Grammatical Method Defended 3 Placing Ethics in Human Life 3.1 Anscombe on Grammar and Essence 3.2 Anscombe and Thompson on Vital Descriptions and Life-Forms 3.3 The Grammar of Human Goodness 3.4 Is There a Human Essence? 3.5 Ethical Naturalism As Transcendental Anthropology 3.6 A Practical Anthropology 4 Virtues As Perfections of Human Powers 4.1 Distinguishing Human Powers 4.2 Appetitive Powers and Virtue 4.3 Virtue and the Metaphysics of Powers References Acknowledgments