Meta-ethics

Readings

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
Moral Realism
1–2	Introduction	Smith, Michael. “What is The Moral Problem?” Chapter 1.1–1.3 in The Moral Problem. Wiley-Blackwell, 1994. ISBN: 9780631192466. Plato. Euthyphro. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. ISBN: 9781479283071.
3–7	Naturalism vs. Non-naturalism	Moore, G. E. “The Subject-Matter of Ethics.” Chapter 1 in Principia Ethica. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. ISBN: 9781456569907. Frankena, W. K. “The Naturalistic Fallacy.” Mind 48, no. 192 (1939): 464–77. (Oxford University Press) Thomson, Judith Jarvis. “The Right and the Good.” The Journal of Philosophy 94, no. 6 (1997): 273–98. Boyd, Richard. “How to be a Moral Realist.” Chapter 1.1–4.5 in Essays on Moral Realism. Cornell University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801495410. Horgan, Terence, and Mark Timmons. “Troubles for New Wave Moral Semantics: The ‘Open Question Argument’ Revived.”
8–9	Moral Explanations	Harman, Gilbert. “Ethics and Observation.” In Essays on Moral Realism. Cornell University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801495410. [Preview with Google Books] Sturgeon, Nicholas. “Moral Explanations.” In Ethics: Essential Readings in Moral Theory. Routledge, 2012. ISBN: 9780415782319. [Preview with Google Books]
10–14	Disagreement and Oddness	Mackie, J. L. “The Subjectivity of Values.” In Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Penguin, 1977. Foot, Philippa. “Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives.” In Ethical Theory: An Anthology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. ISBN: 9780470671603. [Preview with Google Books] Enoch, David. “Metaphysics.” In Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199683178. McGrath, Sarah. “Moral Disagreement and Moral Expertise.” Oxford Studies in Metaethics 4 (2007): 87–108.
Moral Anti-Realism
15	Relativism	Williams, Bernard. “The Amoralist.” In Morality. Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780521457293. [Preview with Google Books] Joyce, Richard. “Moral Fictionalism.” Philosophy Now, February / March 2016.
16–18	Relativism (Cont.)	Harman, Gilbert. “Moral Relativism Defended.” The Philosophical Review 84, no. 1 (1975): 3–22. (Duke University Press.) Boghossian, Paul. “Three kinds of Relativism.” In Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air. Baker Books, 1998. ISBN: 9780801058066. [Preview with Google Books] ———. “The Maze of Moral Relativism,” The New York Times, July 24, 2011. Sarkissian, Hagop, et al. “Folk Moral Relativism.” In Experimental Philosophy: Volume 2. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199927401. [Preview with Google Books]
19–24	Non-cognitivism	Ayer, A. J. “Critique of Ethics and Theology.” In Essays on Moral Realism. Cornell University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801495410. [Preview with Google Books] Gibbard, Allan. Wise Choices, Apt Feelings: A Theory of Normative Judgment. Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780674953789. [Preview with Google Books] Geach, P. T. “Assertion.” The Philosophical Review 74, no. 4 (1965): 449–65. (Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review.) Gibbard, Allan. “Planning and Ruling Out: The Frege-Geach Problem.” In Thinking How to Live. Harvard University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780674027305. [Preview with Google Books] Zangwell, Nick. “Moral Mind-Independence.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 72, no. 2 (1994): 205–19. Woods, Jack. “Expressivism and Moore’s Paradox.” Philosophers’ Imprint 14, no. 5 (2014).
Why Be Moral?
25–28	Reason and Morality	Brink, David O. “A Puzzle About the Rational Authority of Morality.” Philosophical Perspectives 6 (1992): 1–26. Shafer-Landau, Russ. “Moral Rationalism.” In Ethical Theory: An Anthology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. ISBN: 9780470671603. [Preview with Google Books] Wolf, Susan. “Moral Saints.” In Ethical Theory: An Anthology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. ISBN: 9780470671603. [Preview with Google Books]