Moral realism and social criticism
In many contexts, including multicultural societies and various international settings, ethical disputes arise between parties who do not share an ethical outlook. It can seem impossible for such disputes to be resolved rationally, as the parties in question will generally not take the same sorts of consideration to bear on the matter under dispute. If, however, it could be shown that there are ways of assessing an ethical outlook for correctness, neither merely by checking it for internal coherence, nor simply by assessing it by the standards of a different ethical outlook, this would mean there exist resources allowing at least some such disputes to be resolved rationally. In order to establish whether such resources exist it is necessary to consider what it is to have one ethical outlook rather than another. The existence and applicability of âthick ethical conceptsâ can form the basis for a defence of moral realism: a realist conception of ethical properties and moral reasons for action, and a cognitivist conception of the mental states which allow an individual (in good cases) to track ethical facts. A fresh understanding of the nature of intentional action which remedies difficulties with orthodox
Hull, G. T. B.
Moral realism and social criticism. In many contexts, including multicultural societies and various international settings, ethical disputes arise between parties who do not share an ethical outlook. It can seem impossible for such disputes to be resolved rationally, as the parties in question will generally not take the same sorts of consideration to bear on the matter under dispute. If, however, it could be shown that there are ways of assessing an ethical outlook for correctness, neither merely by checking it for internal coherence, nor simply by assessing it by the standards of a different ethical outlook, this would mean there exist resources allowing at least some such disputes to be resolved rationally. In order to establish whether such resources exist it is necessary to consider what it is to have one ethical outlook rather than another. The existence and applicability of âthick ethical conceptsâ can form the basis for a defence of moral realism: a realist conception of ethical properties and moral reasons for action, and a cognitivist conception of the mental states which allow an individual (in good cases) to track ethical facts. A fresh understanding of the nature of intentional action which remedies difficulties with orthodox
moral_realism social_criticism many context include multicultural society various international setting ethical dispute arise party share ethical outlook seem impossible dispute resolve rationally party question_generally take sort consideration bear matter dispute however could show_way assess ethical outlook correctness neither merely check internal coherence simply assess standard different ethical outlook would mean exist resource allow least dispute resolve rationally order_establish whether resource exist necessary consider ethical outlook rather another existence applicability thick ethical concept form_basis defence moral_realism realist conception ethical property moral_reason action cognitivist conception mental_state allow individual good case track ethical fact fresh nature intentional_action remedy difficulty orthodox