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From Reasons to Norms

On the Basic Question in Ethics

  • Book
  • © 2010

Overview

Authors:
  1. Torbjörn Tännsjö

    1. Dept. Philosophy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

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  • A timely reaction to the "turn to reasons" in moral philosophy
  • Takes the reader back to the basic normative question
  • Defends a realist conception of the ought-question
  • Boldly claims that the only unique question in ethics is: "What ought to be done?"

Part of the book series: Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy (LOET, volume 22)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 1-9

  3. The Humean Notion of Practical Reasons

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 11-25

  4. The Moral Notion of Practical Reason

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 27-40

  5. In Defence of Moral Realism

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 41-58

  6. Some Consequences of Moral Realism

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 59-74

  7. Reasons from Prudence and Rationality

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 75-94

  8. Reasons from Justice and Aesthetics

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 95-103

  9. Reasons to Believe

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 105-123

  10. Reasons to Desire

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 125-149

  11. Conclusion

    • Torbjörn Tännsjö
    Pages 151-158

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 159-165
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Keywords

About this book

Metaethics is the inquiry into the nature of morality (or ethics, I use the words ‘morality’, ‘morals’, and ‘ethics’ as synonyms). When we pass moral judgements, what kind of claims are we then making? I speak of this as the semantic metaethical question. a re there moral facts, to be discovered by us and existing independently of our thoughts and conceptualisation? I speak of this as the ontological or me- physical metaethical question. a nd, if there are, can we know about them; and, if we can, how do we get this kind of knowledge? I speak of this as the epistemic metaethical question. a ll these metaethical questions, the semantic, the ontological, and the epistemic ones, are raised and discussed in this book, but they are not the core questions raised. I have been more concerned with another kind of questions, which deserve to be called metaethical as well: what are the problems of morality? a re there many different moral questions, or, do they all, in the final analysis, reduce to only a few, or perhaps just one? t his question is of special importance to a non-naturalist objectivist and realist like the present author, who believes that we do make truth-claims when we pass moral judgements and who believes that there is a truth in these matters so that we must face the possibility that even our most cherished moral judgements may be false.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dept. Philosophy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Torbjörn Tännsjö

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: From Reasons to Norms

  • Book Subtitle: On the Basic Question in Ethics

  • Authors: Torbjörn Tännsjö

  • Series Title: Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3285-0

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-481-3284-3Published: 04 February 2010

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-007-3149-3Published: 04 May 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-90-481-3285-0Published: 12 December 2009

  • Series ISSN: 1387-6678

  • Series E-ISSN: 2215-0323

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 168

  • Topics: Ethics, Philosophy, general

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