Startseite Moral Context, Moral Complicity And Ethical Theory
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Moral Context, Moral Complicity And Ethical Theory

  • Daniel F. Hartner EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 30. November 2020
SATS
Aus der Zeitschrift SATS Band 21 Heft 2

Abstract

One of the dominant traditions in normative ethics is characterised by the attempt to develop a comprehensive moral theory that can distinguish right from wrong in a range of cases by drawing on a philosophical account of the good. Familiar versions of consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics have emerged from this tradition. Yet such theories often seem to lack the resources needed to evaluate the broader contexts in which moral dilemmas arise, which may cause them to encourage moral complicity. Context-insensitive complicity of this sort receives surprisingly little direct philosophical attention, despite its being a ubiquitous concern for ordinary moral agents and despite the threat it poses to this form of ethical theorising. The present paper sketches the problem more formally and canvasses some leading responses before locating its source in the implicit distinction between moral and non-moral domains at the root of much traditional normative theorising.


Corresponding author: Daniel F. Hartner, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 5500 Wabash Avenue, Terre Haute, IN 47803, USA, E-mail:

Acknowledgement

Thank you to an anonymous reviewer and to the editors of this volume — Cecilie Eriksen and Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen – for their helpful criticisms of this paper.

References

Anscombe, G. E. M. 1958. “Modern Moral Philosophy.” Philosophy 33 (124): 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031819100037943.Suche in Google Scholar

Bradley, B. 2006. “Against Satisficing Consequentialism.” Utilitas 18: 97–108, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0953820806001877.Suche in Google Scholar

Carrington, M. J., D. Zwick, and B. Neville. 2016. “The Ideology of the Ethical Consumption Gap.” Marketing Theory 16 (1): 21–38, https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593115595674.Suche in Google Scholar

Clifford, W. K. 1879/2008. “The Ethics of Belief.” In The Ethics of Belief: Essays by William Kingdon Clifford, William James, and A.J. Burger (Revised Edition), edited by A. J. Burger. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Suche in Google Scholar

Donaldson, T. 2008. “Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home.” Reprinted in Allhoff, and Vaidya (eds.) In Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology, 170–80. Toronto, ON: Broadview Press.10.4324/9781315668703-31Suche in Google Scholar

Gert, B. 2005. Morality: Its Nature and Justification, Revised Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0195176898.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Gert, B., and Gert, J. 2012. “The Definition of Morality.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/morality-definition/.Suche in Google Scholar

Greene, J. D., R. B. Sommerville, L. E. Nystrom, J. M. Darley, and J. D. Cohen. 2001. “An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment.” Science, New Series 293: 2105–8, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1062872.Suche in Google Scholar

Jamieson, D., and R. Elliot. 2009. “Progressive Consequentialism.” Philosophical Perspectives 23: 241–51, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1520-8583.2009.00169.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Kolodny, N., and Brunero, J. 2018. “Instrumental Rationality.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2018 Edition, edited by E. N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/rationality-instrumental.Suche in Google Scholar

Korsgaard, C. 1996. The Sources of Normativity, edited by Onora O’Neill, New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511554476Suche in Google Scholar

Maitland, I. 1997. “The Great Non-Debate Over International Sweatshops.” In British Academy of Management Annual Conference Proceedings. 240–65.Suche in Google Scholar

Powers, M. 2005. “Bioethics as Politics.” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15: 305–22, https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2005.0023.Suche in Google Scholar

Rachels, J., and S. Rachels. 2012. The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Suche in Google Scholar

Rawls, J. 2000. Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, edited by Herman, B., and Christine M. Korsgaard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Richardson, H. S. 2008. “Moral Reasoning.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/reasoning-moral/.Suche in Google Scholar

Simon, H. A. 1956. “Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment.” Psychological Review 63 (2): 129–38, https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042769.Suche in Google Scholar

Singer, P. 2018. Marx: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/actrade/9780198821076.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Slote, M. 1984. “Satisficing Consequentialism.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 58: 139–63, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristoteliansupp/58.1.139.Suche in Google Scholar

Smiley, M. 2010. “From Moral Agency to Collective Wrongs; Re-thinking Collective Moral Responsibility.” Journal of Law and Policy 19 (1): 171–202.Suche in Google Scholar

Snow, M. Aug 2015. “Against Charity.” Jacobin Magazine 25: 2015.Suche in Google Scholar

Soames, S. 2014. The Analytic Tradition in Philosophy, Volume 1: The Founding Giants. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400850457Suche in Google Scholar

Soames, S. 2018. The Analytic Tradition in Philosophy, Volume 2: A New Vision. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400887927Suche in Google Scholar

Søndergaard Christensen, A. 2018. “‘What is Ethical Cannot be Taught’ – Understanding Moral Theories as Descriptions of Moral Grammar.” In Wittgenstein’s Moral Thought, edited by R. Agam-Segal, and E. Dain, 175–99. London and New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315180762-8Suche in Google Scholar

Srinivasan, A. 2015. “Stop the Robot Apocalypse.” London Review of Books 37 (18). 24 Sept. 2015.Suche in Google Scholar

Stich, S. 2018. “The Moral Domain.” In Atlas of Moral Psychology, edited by Gray, K., and J. Graham, 547–55. New York: Guilford Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Varoufakis, Y. 1998. Foundations of Economics: A Beginner’s Companion. London and New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203266274Suche in Google Scholar

Vaughn, L. 2015. Beginning Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.Suche in Google Scholar

Velasquez, M. 1992. “International Business, Morality, and the Common Good.” Business Ethics Quarterly 2 (1): 27–40, https://doi.org/10.2307/3857220.Suche in Google Scholar

Velleman, J. D. 2006. “A Brief Introduction to Kantian Ethics.” In Self to Self: Selected Essays, edited by Velleman, J. D., 16–44. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511498862.002Suche in Google Scholar

Walzer, M. 1973. “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 2 (2): 160–80.10.2307/j.ctv1wmz3t9.7Suche in Google Scholar

Williams, B. 1972. Morality: An Introduction to Ethics. New York: Harper & Row.Suche in Google Scholar

Wolf, S. 1982. “Moral Saints.” Journal of Philosophy 79 (8): 419–39, https://doi.org/10.2307/2026228.Suche in Google Scholar

Wood, A. W. 2007. Kantian Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511809651Suche in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2020-11-30
Published in Print: 2020-11-25

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 18.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/sats-2020-2011/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen