Marcel van Ackeren

Sophie Grace Chappell

Bernard Williams' Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy is widely regarded as one of the most important works of moral philosophy in the last fifty years. Williams's powerful sceptical critique of the "morality system" sent shockwaves through philosophy, the implications of which are still being reckoned with thirty years later. In this outstanding collection of new essays, fourteen internationally-recognised philosophers examine the enduring contribution that Williams's book continues to make to ethics. After a detailed topical summary of Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy by Adrian Moore, the full scope of the work is assessed, including the role of Aristotle and Hume in Williams' thought and his arguments concerning the history of philosophy; the nature of virtue, the good life, practical reason, and deliberation; and the themes of duty, blame and inauthenticity. Ethics Beyond the Limits is required reading for students and researchers in ethics, metaethics, and moral psychology, and highly recommended for anyone studying the work of Bernard Williams.

New Essays on Bernard Williams' Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy

Ethics Beyond the Limits

This analysis of the relation between virtue and knowledge focuses on the following aspects: i) Virtue and Happiness can be objects of knowledge; ii) Virtue is knowledge; iii) The search for knowledge is aiming at  and justified by  the human to be happy. Plato therefore defines philosophy not as theory but as the search for wisdom in order to live well. Accordingly Plato does not distinguish different or independent branches of philosophy. These conclusions are reached by an investigation, which traces the continuity and the development of the relation between virtue and knowledge throughout the different phases in Plato's philosophy. The leading thesis of this book is unitarian, but in order to corroborate it the methodology is used of those scholars who think that Plato's philosophy has changed significantly through the dialogic phase. This way, it can be shown that Plato kept developing new justifications for the same relation between virtue and knowledge.Diese Untersuchung der Beziehung von Tugend und Wissen konzentriert sich auf folgende Aspekte: i) Sowohl Tugend als auch Wissen können erkannt werden; ii) Tugend ist Wissen; iii) Die Wissenssuche wird durch das Glücksstreben finalisiert. Daher bestimmt Platon Philosophie nicht als Theorie, sondern als Suche nach der Weisheit, um glücklich zu leben. Entsprechend unterscheidet Platon keine Teilbereiche der Philosophie, die unabhängige Ziele verfolgen. Diese Schlussfolgerungen werden erreicht durch eine Untersuchung, die die Kontinuität und Entwicklung der Beziehung von Tugend und Wissen durch die verschiedenen Phasen in der Platonischen Philosophie verfolgt. Die leitende These ist unitarisch, aber um sie zu bestätigen wird die Methode derjenigen verwandt, die annehmen, die Platonische Philosophie hätte sich in durch die Dialogphasen wesentlich entwickelt. So kann gezeigt werden, dass Platon immer neue Begründungen für dieselbe Beziehung von Tugend und Wissen entwickelt hat.

Bedeutung und Kontinuität des Tugendwissens in den Dialogen Platons

Das Wissen vom Guten

Michael Kühler

This volume responds to the growing interest in finding explanations for why moral claims may lose their validity based on what they ask of their addressees. Two main ideas relate to that question: the moral demandingness objection and the principle "ought implies can." Though both of these ideas can be understood to provide an answer to the same question, they have usually been discussed separately in the philosophical literature. The aim of this collection is to provide a focused and comprehensive discussion of these two ideas and the ways in which they relate to one another, and to take a closer look at the consequences for the limits of moral normativity in general. Chapters engage with contemporary discussions surrounding "ought implies can" as well as current debates on moral demandingness, and argue that applying the moral demandingness objection to the entire range of normative ethical theories also calls for an analysis of its (metaethical) presuppositions. The contributions to this volume are at the leading edge of ethical theory, and have implications for moral theorists, philosophers of action, and those working in metaethics, theoretical ethics and applied ethics.

Moral Demandingness and Ought Implies Can

The Limits of Moral Obligation

Jörn Müller

Theo Kobusch

Ist die Philosophie durch eine Wissenschaftslandschaft gefährdet, die zunehmend von Nutzenerwartungen geprägt wird? Aus welchen Gründen, mit welchen Zielen und Absichten wird Philosophie denn überhaupt betrieben? Die Leitfragen dieses Sammelbands berühren das Selbstverständnis der Philosophie. Namhafte Autoren untersuchen historische, systematische und gesellschaftliche Positionen zu diesen Fragen und geben grundlegende Antworten. Dabei geht es nicht nur um die Legitimation der philosophischen Tätigkeit, sondern wesentlich um ihr inhaltliches Verständnis.

historische, systematische und gesellschaftliche Positionen

Warum noch Philosophie?

Antike Philosophie verstehen

The two volumes of this work provide the first comprehensive interpretation of the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. The central thesis is that a particular combination of form and content is characteristic of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. He wrote the earliest extant self-dialogue, whereby the composition of the mainly contemplative text can at the same time be a kind of Stoic philosophical practice. Volume 1 analyses general characteristics of form and their philosophical significance. Volume 2 analyses the themes, terms and arguments in analogy to the Stoic division of the philosophy.

Band 1: Textform - Stilmerkmale - Selbstdialog. Band 2: Themen - Begriffe - Argumente

Die Philosophie Marc Aurels

A Companion to Marcus Aurelius presents the first comprehensive collection of essays to explore all essential facets relating to contemporary Marcus Aurelius studies. First collection of its kind to commission new state–of–the–art scholarship on Marcus Aurelius Features readings that cover all aspects of Marcus Aurelius, including source material, biographical information, and writings Contributions from an international cast of top Aurelius scholars Addresses evolving aspects of the reception of the Meditations

A Companion to Marcus Aurelius

Jan Opsomer

English Summary: Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor and the last important ancient stoic philosopher. His Meditations are one of the most widely read and known ancient works. Thus, research on this emperor has spread across an almost unprecedented number of scientific disciplines. This volume, which originated at the first conference on Marcus Aurelius, held in Cologne in 2009, reunites publishes recent research in history, archaeology, philosophy, philology, numismatics, rhetoric, legal studies, and literature. German text. German Description: Marc Aurel war romischer Kaiser und der letzte bedeutende stoische Philosoph in der Antike. Seine Selbstbetrachtungen sind eines der meistgelesenen und uber die Fachwelt hinaus bekannten antiken Schriftstucke. Er ist daher wie kaum eine andere antike Figur Gegenstand eines so grossen Spektrums von Forschungsdiziplinen. Im vorliegenden Sammelband, der auf der ersten Tagung zu Marc Aurel (2009 in Koln) basiert, werden aktuelle Forschungsbeitrage aus den Fachern Geschichtswissenschaft, Archaologie, Philosophie, Philologie, Numismatik, Rhetorik, Rechtsgeschichte und Literaturwissenschaft vereint.

Marcel van Ackeren

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