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Bernard Gert's classic work Morality, in which he argues his distinctive and comprehensive moral theory, is now in its sixth edition. Gert argues that morality is an informal system that does not provide answers to every moral question but does always limit the range of morally acceptable options and so explains why some moral questions cannot be resolved. Gert describes the two-step procedure that is used in moral decisions and judgments, and he shows that moral rules cannot be understood independently of the system in which they are embedded. Although his moral theory is sophisticated, it is presented with a clarity that will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students alike, as well as anyone with a general interest in applied ethics.In this new edition, Gert perfects the consistency of his views by presenting his argument in greater detail; he also revises the text in light of a critical book and two symposia dedicated to his theory that have surfaced since the book's last publication. This is the definitive edition to the work that has received so much attention and acclaim.
E-Book Content
Gert, Bernard Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, Dartmouth College Morality Its Nature and Justification Publication date 2005 (this edition) Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-517689-6 doi:10.1093/0195176898.001.0001 Abstract: Morality: Its Nature and Justification provides an analysis of the concepts of morality, rationality and irrationality, reasons, goods and evils, moral rules, and impartiality. It uses these analyses to describe a justified moral system that includes moral rules that prohibit doing the kinds of actions that need justification so as not to be immoral; moral ideals that encourage doing the kinds of actions that, if they do not involve violations of moral rules, are universally considered to be morally good actions; and a two-step procedure for determining when the violations of a moral rule are strongly justified, weakly justified, and unjustified. The first step of this two-step procedure uses the morally relevant features to provide a morally relevant description of the action. The second step involves estimating whether more harm would be caused by publicly allowing such a violation or by not allowing it. This justified moral system is commonly used, although usually only implicitly, by people when they are making thoughtful moral decisions and judgments. Morality is a public system that is known by all normal adults, and that is not irrational for any of them to use to govern their own behavior and to judge the behavior of others. These analyses and justifications are used to provide an account of virtues and vices and of moral judgments, to answer the question of why one should be moral, and show that the same morality applies to governments as to individuals. Contents PART I CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS Chapter 1 Morality 3 Chapter 2 Rationality and Irrationality 29 Chapter 3 Reasons 56 Chapter 4 Goods (Benefits) and Evils (Harms) 90 Chapter 5 Moral Rules 110 Chapter 6 Impartiality 131 PART II THE MORAL SYSTEM AND ITS JUSTIFICATION Chapter 7 Justifying the Moral Rules: The First Five 159 Chapter 8 Justifying the Moral Rules: The Second Five 187 Chapter 9 Justifying Violations 220 Chapter 10 Moral Ideals 246 PART III VIRTUE, METAETHICS, AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPY Chapter 11 Virtues and Vices 275 Chapter 12 Moral Judgments 309 Chapter 13 ―Why Should I Be Moral?‖ 338 Chapter 14 Morality and Society 362 Notes 387 Index 413 end p.xvii
II CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS end p.1 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com) © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2006. All Rights Reserved The utility of moral and civil philosophy is to be estimated, not so much by the commodities we have by knowing these sciences, as by the calamities we receive by not knowing them. Thomas Hobbes De Corpore, chap. 1,