Closereads: Peter Railton's Moral Realism (Part One) The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
-
- Philosophy
We're reading a 1984 essay by Mark's U. of Michigan undergrad advisor, included among the most cited philosophy papers in some list that Wes found. Railton's goal is to give a naturalistic account of ethics that both connects tightly to observed empirical facts about humanity and also makes moral facts real parts of our world, not merely reducible to non-moral facts about pleasure or expressed preferences or the like. In this first part, Railton lays out what naturalism in ethics amounts to and begins to explain why past empiricists like Hume don't provide a realist picture of morality.
Read along with us: https://www.filosoficas.unam.mx/docs/1110/files/Railton%20Moral%20realism.pdf
This is the first of at least three Closereads episodes going through this text. You can hear them all by signing up to support Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy.
We're reading a 1984 essay by Mark's U. of Michigan undergrad advisor, included among the most cited philosophy papers in some list that Wes found. Railton's goal is to give a naturalistic account of ethics that both connects tightly to observed empirical facts about humanity and also makes moral facts real parts of our world, not merely reducible to non-moral facts about pleasure or expressed preferences or the like. In this first part, Railton lays out what naturalism in ethics amounts to and begins to explain why past empiricists like Hume don't provide a realist picture of morality.
Read along with us: https://www.filosoficas.unam.mx/docs/1110/files/Railton%20Moral%20realism.pdf
This is the first of at least three Closereads episodes going through this text. You can hear them all by signing up to support Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy.