Cora Diamond's Moral Philosophy
The dissertation explores and critically evaluates Cora Diamond's moral philosophy, understood as an adaptation ofWittgenstein's more general philosophical ideas and methods. In particular, it examines Diamond's 'Wittgensteinian aversion to theoretical thinking in ethics. Even loyal Wittgensteinians sometimes (mis)use Wittgenstein's ideas to advance various deniable theories, including forms of realism and anti-realism in moral philosophy, and varieties of ethical relativism and conservativism. Diamond's moral philosophy, by contrast, maintains a non-theoretical stance which, nevertheless, offers a satisfying philosophical alternative to theorybuilding. Part One distinguishes Diamond's 'realistic spirit' from Sabina Lovibond's philosophical realism. I argue that Lovibond's McDowellian quietism is covertly committed to various theses. I explain Diamond's rejection of Lovibond's conception of ethics as a subject matter, and the differences between their appeals to the ideas of form oflife, and their attacks on the conception oflanguage as rule-governed. Part Two argues that Elizabeth Anscombe's Wittgensteinian rejection of the notion ofself-legislation unwittingly reflects dogmatic views of our conceptual life.
Agam-Segal, Reshef
Cora Diamond's Moral Philosophy. The dissertation explores and critically evaluates Cora Diamond's moral philosophy, understood as an adaptation ofWittgenstein's more general philosophical ideas and methods. In particular, it examines Diamond's 'Wittgensteinian aversion to theoretical thinking in ethics. Even loyal Wittgensteinians sometimes (mis)use Wittgenstein's ideas to advance various deniable theories, including forms of realism and anti-realism in moral philosophy, and varieties of ethical relativism and conservativism. Diamond's moral philosophy, by contrast, maintains a non-theoretical stance which, nevertheless, offers a satisfying philosophical alternative to theorybuilding. Part One distinguishes Diamond's 'realistic spirit' from Sabina Lovibond's philosophical realism. I argue that Lovibond's McDowellian quietism is covertly committed to various theses. I explain Diamond's rejection of Lovibond's conception of ethics as a subject matter, and the differences between their appeals to the ideas of form oflife, and their attacks on the conception oflanguage as rule-governed. Part Two argues that Elizabeth Anscombe's Wittgensteinian rejection of the notion ofself-legislation unwittingly reflects dogmatic views of our conceptual life.
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