Published by De Gruyter

Practical Philosophy

Edited by: Herlinde Pauer-Studer, Neil Roughley, Peter Schaber and Ralf Stoecker

ISSN: 2197-9243

eISSN: 2197-9251

Overview
Volumes

The aim of the series is to publish high-quality studies in English or German that deal with topics in practical philosophy from a broadly analytic perspective. These include questions in meta-ethics, normative ethics and ‘applied’ ethics, as well as in political philosophy, philosophy of law and the philosophy of action.

Topics

Book 2018

The Origin of Oughtness

A Case for Metaethical Conativism

Stefan Fischer

Volume 22 in this series

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How come we ought to do things? Current metanormative debates often suffer from the fact that authors implicitly use adequacy conditions not shared by their opponents. This leads to an unsatisfying dialectical gridlock (Chang): One author accuses her opponents of not being able to account for stuff she judges essential, but the opponents do not think this to be a major flaw. In an attempt to meet the problem of gridlock head-on, the current investigation approaches oughtness differently.

I start with the introduction of a grounding framework for thinking about oughtness that allows a lucid presentation of the views on the market. It soon becomes clear that one necessary part of any plausible assessment of accounts of oughtness is a discussion of their adequacy conditions. I continue with a detailed evaluation of four different accounts, as presented by Halbig (2007), Schroeder (2007), Stemmer (2006), and Scanlon (2014). My main result is that desire-based or Humean theories of oughtness are more plausible because desire-independent accounts fail to explain something crucial: the for-me character of oughtness. Based on the insights gathered thus far, I then develop a new Humean theory – metaethical conativism – and defend it against some historically influential objections.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110599787
ISBN:: 9783110599787
ISBN:: 9783110600728
ISBN:: 9783110599251
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Modern Philosophy
Subject:: 20th and 21st Century Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Meta-Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2016

Der metaethische Relativismus auf dem Prüfstand

Christian Wendelborn

Volume 21 in this series

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Moral relativism enjoys great popularity outside academic philosophy. In metaethics, by contrast, relativistic attempts to conceptualize morality have been rapidly discarded as a subject of consideration. This study aims to restore metaethical relativism in the field of discourse, to examine its motivations and boundaries, and to take a clear look at its theoretical potentials.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110487183
ISBN:: 9783110487183
ISBN:: 9783110477436
ISBN:: 9783110486544
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Modern Philosophy
Subject:: 20th and 21st Century Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2015

The Concept of Justice and Equality

On the Dispute between John Rawls and Gerald Cohen

Eliane Saadé

Volume 20 in this series

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Unless considered on a practical level, where a precise distribution of social goods is chosen, John Rawls’s and Gerald Cohen’s approaches to social justice cannot be complementary. Their disagreement about justice and its principles calls for a choice, which opts either for the Rawlsian theory or for the Cohenian one. What is the more plausible approach to social justice? This work compares both approaches and aims to defend Cohen’s position in the light of two considerations. It answers the philosophical question about the analysis of the idea of justice, which puts the virtue of justice in its philosophical context. It, however, presents a method everyone can apply in order to arrive at the fundamental principles of justice by employing the power of reason. An analysis of the concept of justice based on the power of reason should seek to uncover the ultimate nature of justice, which is independent of facts and of other virtues. Once exposed, the understanding of justice arrived at should inform social institutions and determine people’s daily decisions. A just society is therefore a society where just persons and just institutions exhibit the virtue of justice.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110448900
ISBN:: 9783110447194
ISBN:: 9783110448900
ISBN:: 9783110447408
Subject:: Law
Subject:: History, Philosophy and Sociology of Law
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy of Law
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2014

Liberal Perfectionism

The Reasons that Goodness Gives

Alexandra Couto

Volume 19 in this series

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Much of the recent literature on political perfectionism has focused on dealing with objections to this view. This book adopts a different approach: It attempts to highlight the intuitive appeal of liberal perfectionism by presenting a positive prima facie argument in its favour. The book starts by clarifying the relation between political perfectionism — a conception of politics — and prudential perfectionism and ethical perfectionism — a conception of the good life, and a type of ethical theory. It is crucial to start by selecting a plausible form of ethical perfectionism, as it makes an important difference to the plausibility of the political conception based upon it. Once appropriate distinctions are drawn and a plausible form of liberal perfectionism is endorsed, many of the standard objections to perfectionism are shown to fail to reach their target. Different arguments in favour of liberal perfectionism are then proposed and critically examined, but the resilience of some pragmatic arguments against liberal perfectionism is conceded. The book ends by showing that perfectionism can be surprisingly relevant for discussions of social justice and proceeds to draw a sketch of the perfectionist implications for questions of distributive justice.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110336955
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033526-2
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033695-5
ISBN:: 9783110372984
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy of Law
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Ausdruck und Zuschreibung

Konzeptionen des menschlichen Handelns bei H.L.A. Hart, Elizabeth Anscombe und A.I. Melden

Anne Mazuga

Volume 18 in this series

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The three early descriptions of analytic action theory sharethe fundamental premise that physical behavior is characterized as intentional action by semantic rather than physical features. Hart, Anscombe, and Melden each cite essential conditions for the possibility of attributing actions. Their concepts can be integrated into a model of action whose emphasis lies on the social dimension of understanding action.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110337235
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033541-5
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033723-5
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Das eigene Leben verstehen

Zur Relevanz des Standpunkts der ersten Person für Theorien personaler Identität

Christian Budnik

Volume 17 in this series

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This book argues that questions concerning personal identity cannot be answered without resorting to the first-person perspective. When individuals adopt the first-person perspective they are interested in understanding their own lives, and, in this way, can be said to be "working on" their normative identity. Yet this understanding of the first-person perspective can only be properly understood with the aid of a non-reductionist theory of personal identity.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110332902
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033280-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033290-2
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Metaphysics, Ontology
Subject:: Philosophy of Language
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Why the Law Matters to You

Citizenship, Agency, and Public Identity

Christoph Hanisch

Volume 16 in this series

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This book presents an answer to the question of why modern legal institutions and the idea of citizenship are important for leading a free life. The majority of views in political and legal philosophy regard the law merely as a useful instrument, employed to render our lives more secure and to enable us to engage in cooperate activities more efficiently. The view developed here defends a non-instrumentalist alternative of why the law matters. It identifies the law as a constitutive feature of our identities as citizens of modern states. The constitutivist argument rests on the (Kantian) assumption that a person’s practical identity (its normative self-conception as an agent) is the result of its actions. The law co-constitutes these identities because it maintains the external conditions that are necessary for the actions performed under its authority. Modern legal institutions provide these external prerequisites for achieving a high degree of individual self-constitution and freedom. Only public principles can establish our status as individuals who pursue their life plans and actions as a matter of right and not because others contingently happen to let us do so. The book thereby provides resources for a reply to anarchist challenges to the necessity of legal ordering.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110324563
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032395-5
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032456-3
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy of Law
Subject:: Philosophical Anthropology
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Foundations of an Ethics of Belief

Anne Meylan

Volume 15 in this series

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In our daily lives we make lots of evaluations of actions. We think that driving above the speed limit is dangerous, that giving up one’s bus seat to the elderly is polite, that stirring eggs with a plastic spoon is neither good nor bad. We understand, too, that we may be praised or blamed for actions performed on the basis of these evaluations. The goal of this study is to illustrate the foundations that allow for these kinds of judgments.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327816
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032744-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032781-6
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Theology and Religion
Subject:: Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Subject:: Systematic Theology
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

Das Problem der Handlungsverursachung

Eine kritische Untersuchung zur kausalen Handlungstheorie

Katinka Schulte-Ostermann

Volume 14 in this series

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Die vorliegende Untersuchung ist eine Auseinandersetzung mit der kausalen Handlungstheorie. Der These, dass Handlungen entweder unmittelbar durch einen Akteur oder durch seine mentalen Zustände verursacht werden, wird entgegengehalten, dass bisher keine Handlungstheorie vorliegt, die dieses kausale Verhältnis zu belegen vermag und dass es auch bisher in der Philosophie des Geistes keinen Ansatz gibt, der erklärt wie mentale Verursachung möglich ist. Eine Alternative wird in einer Handlungstheorie gefunden, der eine monistische Ontologie zugrunde liegt. Im ihrem Zentrum steht die Person. Personsein wird als die Erfahrung der Einheit von Mentalem und Physischem im Handeln gedeutet. Das Verhältnis von Akteur zur Handlung wird daher als ein normatives und nicht als ein kausales aufgefasst.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327632
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032733-5
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032763-2
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Pluralistische Gesellschaften und Vertragstheorien

Eine konstruktive Kritik der hobbesianischen Vertragstheorie

Jörg Kühnelt

Volume 13 in this series

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Der Status quo in zeitgenössischen pluralistischen Gesellschaften konfrontiert die politische Philosophie mit dem Problem, eine Staatslegitimation zu formulieren, die für alle Bürger trotz konfligierender Interessen und Wertvorstellungen überzeugend ist. Im ersten Teil wird Thomas Hobbes’ klassische Vertragstheorie, die Spieltheorie sowie James Buchanans ökonomische Vertragstheorie kritisch diskutiert. Die im zweiten Teil entworfene kontextbezogene Vertragstheorie analysiert eine Gesellschaft, in der Egoisten, moderate Altruisten und moralische Idealisten interagieren. Sie zeigt, dass ein Verfassungsstaat für fast alle Bürger interessenkompatibel ist, weil er Interaktionsprobleme vermeidet, die im Naturzustand, einem Sklavenstaat, einer Moraldiktatur und einem Minimalstaat auftreten würden.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327595
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032731-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032759-5
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Natürlich gut

Aufsätze zur Philosophie von Philippa Foot

Thomas Hoffmann, Michael Reuter

Volume 12 in this series

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Philippa Foots Natural Goodness (dt. Die Natur des Guten) ist eines der interessantesten Werke der Gegenwartsphilosophie. Ihr Ansatz stellt nicht nur wesentliche Annahmen in Frage, die moralphilosophische Debatten bis in die Gegenwart hinein bestimmen. Foot entwirft auch einen Begriff der menschlichen Natur, der die reduktiven Tendenzen des modernen Szientismus vermeidet. Praktische Rationalität erscheint nicht als das Andere der menschlichen Natur, sondern als entscheidendes Merkmal unserer Lebensform. Natürlich gut dokumentiert erstmals die kritische Auseinandersetzung der deutschsprachigen Philosophie mit Foots ethischem Naturalismus.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327618
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032732-8
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032761-8
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2008

Explaining Altruism

A Simulation-Based Approach and its Limits

Eckhart Arnold

Volume 11 in this series

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Employing computer simulations for the study of the evolution of altruism has been popular since Axelrod's book „The Evolution of Cooperation“. But have the myriads of simulation studies that followed in Axelrod's footsteps really increased our knowledge about the evolution of altruism or cooperation?

This book examines in detail the working mechanisms of simulation based evolutionary explanations of altruism. It shows that the „theoretical insights“ that can be derived from simulation studies are often quite arbitrary and of little use for the empirical research. In the final chapter of the book, therefore, a set of epistemological requirements for computer simulations is proposed and recommendations for the proper research design of simulation studies are made.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327571
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032730-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032757-1
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2007

Keeping Balance

On Desert and Propriety

Diana Abad

Volume 10 in this series

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What is desert? The aim of this book is to give an analysis of this notion. Starting from Feinberg's seminal paper, the argument goes on to Chisholm, 18th-century British Rationalism, and Kant, who developed the concept of propriety that is the foundation of the concept of desert and the key to understanding it. Beyond the analysis, the concept of desert is applied to two problems of moral philosophy, punishment and moral residue, that can be solved only by means of this notion. Desert is an indispensable moral concept we do well to understand clearly and to incorporate into our moral practice.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327779
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032742-7
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032777-9
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2007

David Gauthiers moralischer Kontraktualismus

Eine kritische Analyse

Raffael Iturrizaga

Volume 9 in this series

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Rationalität hat religiöse und andere metaphysisch anspruchsvolle Größen in ihrer ehemals privilegierten Stellung als Begründungsinstanzen in der Moralphilosophie abgelöst. David Gauthier hat mit Morals by Agreement hier für den moralischen Kontraktualismus die bisher am besten elaborierte Theorie vorgelegt, die auch die Methoden der modernen Entscheidungs- und Spieltheorie einbezieht. Die zentrale Herausforderung besteht in dem Erbringen des Nachweises, dass es in einer Gesellschaft mit ungleicher Machtverteilung für alle Personen rational ist, einen Kooperationsvertrag einzugehen, der von Anfangsbedingungen der Gleichheit ausgeht. Iturrizaga stellt in seiner tief greifenden kritischen Analyse diesen Nachweis in Frage und liefert dabei zugleich eine umfassende Darstellung der Theorie Gauthiers.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327793
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032743-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032779-3
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Modern Philosophy
Subject:: 20th and 21st Century Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2004

Value Matters

Studies in Axiology

Nicholas Rescher

Volume 8 in this series

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For many years value theory has figured high on the agenda of my interests, a fact attested by Introduction to Value Theory published by Prentice Hall in 1969. This interest has continued in recent years inter alia, finding earlier expressions in the articles constituting chapters 2-4 of the present book. (See the footnotes for publication details.) The remaining six chapters are new, and combine to form overall a synoptic overview of fundamental issues in the theory of value.

1. BY THE STANDARDS OF THEIR DAY
2. ON THE IMPORT AND RATIONALE OF VALUE ATTRIBUTION
3. NOMIC HIERACHIES AND PROBLEMS OF RELATIVISM
4. IS REASONING ABOUT VALUES VICIOUSLY CIRCULAR?
5. RATIONAL ECONOMY AND THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPETUS
6. EVALUATION AND THE FALLACY OF RESPECT NEGLECT
7. CREDIT FOR MAKING A DISCOVERY
8. OPTIMALISM AND THE RATIONALITY OF THE REAL (ON THE PROSPECT OF AXIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION)
9. THE REVOLT AGAINST ABSOLUTES IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327755
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032741-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032775-5
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2004

Ethics of Humanitarian Interventions

Georg Meggle

Volume 7 in this series

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Humanitarian Interventions - that sounds nice; much nicer than wars, battles and use of military force. Foremost, the phrase makes you think of the delivery of sanitary goods, medication, of soup-kitchens.
Here we are not supposed to think of interventions of this kind; we have to have humanitarian interventions in mind which are humanitarian intervention-wars.

(I) At exactly what point is the use of military force a humanitarian intervention? What is the humanitarian aspect of those interventions? Their occasion? Their motive? Their alleged as well as their actual consequences?
(II) At exactly what point are humanitarian intervention-wars morally justifiable? Are they justifiable even if they are wars of aggression breaching international law?
And finally:
(III) Was the war which was presented to us as the paradigmatic example of a humanitarian-intervention-war, that is: the war in Kosovo in the spring of 1999 (with over 37,000 bombing missions), really justifiable as a humanitarian intervention? Many of us wanted to believe so at the time. Does our ex ante judgement hold today in an ex post reflection? And which lessons for the future should we learn from the success or failure of this humanitarian war?

These are the questions proposed in this book; therefore, it is concerned with problems of semantics (part I), problems of moral assessment (part II) and with the moral, legal and political conclusions we draw from our experiences with the war in Kosovo, our primary example of a humanitarian intervention (part III).

International experts in the areas of philosophy, international law, sociology and peace studies debated these questions vigorously for several days. This is the resulting volume.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327731
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032740-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032773-1
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2004

A New Science of Politics

Hans Kelsen's Reply to Eric Voegelin's 'New Science of Politics'. A Contribution to the Critique of Ideology

Hans Kelsen

Volume 6 in this series

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Eric Voegelin is famous as a philosopher of history and a as one of the most eminent political scientists of the 20th century. His most fundamental work on political theory, the "New Science of Politics, is nowadays considered a classic in ist field. While the "New Science" has always been a very controversial book, ist critics have hardly ever taken the pain to pinpoint the weaknesses they condemmed Voegelins book for.
There is, however, one exception: Only shortly after the appearance of Voegelins "New Science" in 1954, Hans Kelsen has written a most detailed reply to this book of his former student. This reply, which was known to Voegelin and is mentioned in his autobiography, is now being published by the ontos verlag. Being a distinguished philosopher himself of an erudition and breadth of knowledge that matches that of Eric Voegelin, Hans Kelsen is able to support the critical stance he takes on Voegelin "New Science" by clear and well founded argument.

This critical reply to Voegelins "New Science" is not only an important contribution to the dispute about the foundations of political order in modern society, but will also prove valuable to readers generally interested in Voegelins life and work.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327717
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032737-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032771-7
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2004

Normativity and Naturalism

Peter Schaber

Volume 5 in this series

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At the centre of the metaethical debate that took off from G.E. Moore's Principia Ethica (1903) was his critique of ethical naturalism. While Moore's own arguments against ethical naturalism find little acceptance these days, an alternative ground for thinking that ethical properties and facts could not be natural has gained prominence: No natural account can be given of normativity. This collection contains original essays from both sides of the debate. Representing a wide range of metaethical views, the authors develop diverse accounts of normativity and discuss what it means for a concept to be natural.
Contributions are by Norbert Anwander, David Copp, Neil Roughley, Peter Schaber, Thomas Schmidt, Tatjana Tarkian, and Theo van Willigenburg.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327694
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032736-6
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032769-4
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy, other
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2003

Praktische Gründe

Ein Vergleich dreier paradigmatischer Theorien

Kirsten B. Endres

Volume 4 in this series

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Für die Moralphilosophie ist eine Theorie praktischer Gründe von zentraler Bedeutung. Ein zentraler Streitpunkt ist dabei die Verbindung zwischen Normativität und Motivation. Endres rekonstruiert kritisch die bedeutenden Positionen von B. Williams, J. McDowell und C. Korsgaard. Die Positionen lassen sich als humesch, aristotelisch und kantisch kennzeichnen, so dass ihre Behandlung zugleich auch als eine Auseinandersetzung mit exemplarischen Beispielen der wichtigsten Ansätze der Philosophiegeschichte zu verstehen ist. Kernthese ist, dass es einen signifikanten Aspekt praktischer Gründe gibt, der in der gegenwärtigen Debatte übersehen worden ist: praktische Gründe müssen Personen zugänglich sein. Nur in McDowells Ansatz stellt dies einen endgültigen Einwand dar, da sich die beiden anderen Positionen so umformulieren lassen, dass sie der Zugänglichkeit Rechnung tragen können.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327670
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032735-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032767-0
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2003

Über den mehrfachen Sinn von Menschenwürde-Garantien

Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Artikel 1, Abs. 1 Grundgesetz

Dunja Jaber

Volume 3 in this series

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Dass die Würde des Menschen unantastbar sei, stellt eine der populärsten, aber auch eine der umstrittensten Aussagen des Grundgesetzes dar. Dabei wird eine sachorientierte Diskussion oft durch mehr oder minder unausgewiesene semantische und historische Annahmen blockiert. Aus dieser Beobachtung heraus wird zum einen überlegt, wie sich unterschiedliche Bedeutungen des Ausdrucks "Menschenwürde" unterscheiden und ethischen Fragestellungen resp. Positionen zuordnen ließen. Zum anderen wird die Einführung des Ausdrucks in das Verfassungsrecht nachgezeichnet. Das Hauptaugenmerk gilt dabei Art.1 Abs. 1 Grundgesetz, dessen Gehalt in Auseinandersetzung mit der bisherigen Rechtsprechung rekonstruiert wird.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110327656
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032734-2
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032765-6
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Applied Ethics
Subject:: Bio Ethics and Ethics of Medicine, Ethics of Science
Subject:: Philosophy of Law
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2003

Grundlagen der Ethik

Normativität und Objektivität

Peter Schaber, Rafael Hüntelmann

Volume 1 in this series

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Im August 2002 trafen sich Philosophinnen und Philosophen zu einer Tagung in Frankfurt, um über Grundlagen der Ethik zu diskutieren. Dabei ging es um Wahrheit in der Moral, um Ontologie und Moral, um das Verhältnis von Metaethik und normativer Ethik, um die Natur praktischer Gründe und nicht zuletzt auch um Grundelemente einer inhaltlichen Moraltheorie. Aus dieser Diskussion sind die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes entstanden.

Der Band versammelt Beiträge von Norbert Anwander, Paul Bloomfield, Friedrich Dudda, Kirsten B. Endres, Rafael Hüntelmann, Hallvard Lillehammer, Peter Schaber, Tatjana Tarkian, Erwin Tegtmeier und Thomas Zoglauer.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110329742
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032963-6
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032974-2
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book Open Access 2022

The Concept of Moral Progress

Frauke Albersmeier

Volume 24 in this series

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What is moral progress? Are we striving for moral progress when we seek to ‘make the world a better place’? What connects the different ways in which moral agents, their actions, and the world can become morally better? This book proposes an explication of the abstract concept of moral progress and explores its relation to our moral lives. Integrating the perspectives of rival normative theories, it draws a clear distinction between ethical and moral progress and makes the case that moral progress can neither happen merely in theory, nor come about by a fluke. Still, the ideal of moral progress as a deliberate improvement in practices with a positive impact on the world is but one of several types of moral progress, relating in different ways to the theoretical and practical capacities of moral agents. No elevated level of sophistication in these capacities is required for moral progress to be possible, and the abstract idea of moral progress need not be on moral agents’ minds in the pursuit of the morally better. However, a desire for impactful moral progress, far from being a moral fetish, marks a particularly valuable moral outlook.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110798913
ISBN:: 9783110798913
ISBN:: 9783110799019
ISBN:: 9783110798838
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Subject:: Meta-Ethics
Subject:: Normative Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2019

A Pragmatic Approach to Agency in Group Activity

Herman Witzel

Volume 23 in this series

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A Pragmatic Approach to Agency in Group Activity builds towards an action theory that explains how new forms agency develop in group activity. The approach starts from practical insights about group activity and develops a new understanding of agency from there.
This study shows how practical interactions and structures in group activity disrupt individual agency. It is concluded that important features of agency can be realized on a group level. Different types of group activities are analyzed in order to better understand these mechanisms and, consequently, revisit our understanding of agency. It is argued that „intentionality,“ the key concept in individual action theory, merely serves as a pseudo-explanatory connection between specific features of agency and their realization in humans. This is contrasted with empirical research showing that how humans act is far from the idealized concept of intentionality. Consequently, intentionality as a key explanatory concept is rejected and replaced by a diverse set of features of agency for a similarly diverse set of kinds of agency. In this view, groups display new forms agency beyond individual agency without making the groups agents themselves. Such is the nature of group agency.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110628623
ISBN:: 9783110628623
ISBN:: 9783110628111
ISBN:: 9783110629088
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: Ethics
Publisher:: De Gruyter