Richard Joyce

The Myth of Morality (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)

Richard Garner

According to the moral error theorist, all moral judgments are mistaken. The world just doesn't contain the properties and relations necessary for these judgments to be true. But what should we actually do if we decided that we are in this radical and unsettling predicament--that morality is just a widespread and heartfelt illusion? One suggestion is to eliminate all talk and thought of morality (abolitionism). Another is to carry on believing it anyway (conservationism). And yet another is to treat morality as a kind of convenient fiction (fictionalism). We tend to think of moral thinking as valuable and useful (e.g., for motivating cooperative behavior), but we can also recognize that it can be harmful (e.g., hindering compromise) and even disastrous (e.g., inspiring support for militaristic propaganda). Would we be better off or worse off if we stopped basing decisions on moral considerations? This is a collection of twelve brand new chapters focused on a critical examination of the options available to the moral error theorist. After a general introduction outlining the topic, explaining key terminology, and offering suggestions for further reading, the chapters address questions like: * Is it true that the more that people are motivated by moral concerns, the more likely it is that society will be elitist, authoritarian, and dishonest? * Is an appeal to moral values a useful tool for helping resolve conflicts, or does it actually exacerbate conflicts? * Would it even be possible to abolish morality from our thinking? * If we were to accept a moral error theory, would it be feasible to carry on believing in morality in everyday contexts? * Might moral discourse be usefully modeled on familiar metaphorical language, where we can convey useful and important truths by uttering falsehoods? * Does moral thinking support or undermine a commitment to feminist goals? * What role do moral judgments play in addressing important decisions affecting climate change? The End of Morality: Taking Moral Abolitionism Seriouslyis the first book to thoroughly address these and other questions, systematically investigating the harms and benefits of moral thought, and considering what the world might be like without morality.

Taking Moral Abolitionism Seriously

The End of Morality

A consideration of whether the human capacity to make moral judgments is innate and, if so, what implications follow; combines philosophical discussion with the latest findings from the empirical sciences.

The Evolution of Morality

Simon Kirchin

What kind of properties are moral qualities, such as rightness, badness, etc? Some ethicists doubt that there are any such properties; they maintain that thinking that something is morally wrong (for example) is comparable to thinking that something is a unicorn or a ghost. These "moral error theorists" argue that the world simply does not contain the kind of properties or objects necessary to render our moral judgments true. This radical form of moral skepticism was championed by the philosopher John Mackie (1917-1981). This anthology is a collection of philosophical essays critically examining Mackie’s view.

Essays on John Mackie's Moral Error Theory

A World Without Values

The Higher Education of a Cottonmouth is the tale of Mick Lee and his grandfather John Pierce, a man both renowned and reviled for his many acts. The events take place over the course of two days, when Mick, preparing for a final confrontation with the Devil himself, writes his most important memories of his grandfather and how he came to inherit his conflict with "Ole Scratch." John Pierce was a man who could be mean as a snake, but always appeared larger than life. Even though he was an "outsider," committing rather creative heists and landing himself in prison (what he called "state college," hence the story's title), his deeds of rebellion earned him fame and the love of his grandson. Through his journal entry, Mick tells the story of how his rebellious grandfather shaped his character and made him the man he is. After Mick completes writing in his journal, he must go out and fight the devil-or so he believes. Is the devil real or is Ole Scratch nothing more than his own restless mind?

The Higher Education of a Cottonmouth

Kim Sterelny

Ben Fraser

Brett Calcott

Essays from a range of disciplinary perspectives show the central role that cooperation plays in structuring our world. This collection reports on the latest research on an increasingly pivotal issue for evolutionary biology: cooperation. The chapters are written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and utilize research tools that range from empirical survey to conceptual modeling, reflecting the rich diversity of work in the field. They explore a wide taxonomic range, concentrating on bacteria, social insects, and, especially, humans. Part I ("Agents and Environments") investigates the connections of social cooperation in social organizations to the conditions that make cooperation profitable and stable, focusing on the interactions of agent, population, and environment. Part II ("Agents and Mechanisms") focuses on how proximate mechanisms emerge and operate in the evolutionary process and how they shape evolutionary trajectories. Throughout the book, certain themes emerge that demonstrate the ubiquity of questions regarding cooperation in evolutionary biology: the generation and division of the profits of cooperation; transitions in individuality; levels of selection, from gene to organism; and the "human cooperation explosion" that makes our own social behavior particularly puzzling from an evolutionary perspective.

Cooperation and Its Evolution

Just Deserts

Tom's life takes a turn for the worse when his Dad ups sticks and moves them to Trefuggle Bay. But things get interesting when he meets two unusual new friends. Parked in an old caravan at the end of a cliff, live two legends of the Escorvian circus. The amazing Berto Baboomski and his performing goat Zoltan. Berto may be a crazy-looking nutcake with a bonkers moustache, but he's full of circus wisdom - which he passes onto Tom, along with a few tricks. Soon Tom's new found circus skills are put to the test as he, Berto, and Zoltan put on a show-stopping performance in order to save the town from some truly fishy goings on. As Berto would say 'This skaboonky story will have you cheerzing like a nutcracker!'

Mr. Baboomski and the Wonder Goat

In The Myth of Morality, Richard Joyce argues that moral discourse is hopelessly flawed. At the heart of ordinary moral judgements is a notion of moral inescapability, or practical authority, which, upon investigation, cannot be reasonably defended. Joyce argues that natural selection is to blame, in that it has provided us with a tendency to invest the world with values that it does not contain, and demands that it does not make. Should we therefore do away with morality, as we did away with other faulty notions such as witches? Possibly not. We may be able to carry on with morality as a 'useful fiction' - allowing it to have a regulative influence on our lives and decisions, perhaps even playing a central role - while not committing ourselves to believing or asserting falsehoods, and thus not being subject to accusations of 'error'.

Richard Joyce

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