archive

The foundation of ethics

Mikhail Valdman (VCU): A Theory of Wrongful Exploitation. From the Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy, Matthew Talbert (WVU): Implanted Desires, Self-Formation, and Blame. Jason Kawall (Colgate): In Defense of the Primacy of Virtues. Just desserts: Brad Hooker asks if the idea of desert belongs at the foundation of ethics. A review of What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-Being by Richard Kraut. A review of Freedom and Value: Freedom's Influence on Welfare and Worldly Value by Ishtiyaque Haji. A review of The Autonomy of Morality by Charles Larmore. A review of The Moral Skeptic by Anita M. Superson. Research suggests power tends to bend a person’s moral outlook, making one less likely to believe bending the rules is acceptable behavior. A review of The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy by Melvin Rogers. The study "There Must Be a Reason: Osama, Saddam and Inferred Justification" calls unsubstantiated beliefs "a serious challenge to democratic theory and practice". Is a smarter world a better world?: John Gray reviews The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen (and more and more). With a billion people living on less than $1 a day, is buying luxury shoes ethical? Eating meat isn't bad for the planet — it's our system of raising the animals that's wrong.