Making morality work

Making morality work / Holly M. Smith.

What should we do if we cannot figure what morality requires of us? Holly M. Smith argues that the best moral codes solve this problem by offering two tiers, one of which tells us what makes acts right and wrong, and the other of which provides user-friendly decision guides. She opens a path towards...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, Holly M. (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2018.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Ethics.
Conduct of life.
ethics (philosophy)
ethics (philosophical concept)
PHILOSOPHY > Ethics & Moral Philosophy.
PHILOSOPHY > Social.
Conduct of life
Ethics
Online Access:Click for online access
Table of Contents:
  • Cover; Making Morality Work; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; 1: Introduction; 2: Using Moral Principles to Guide Decisions; 2.1 Using Moral Principles to Guide Conduct; 2.2 Two Different Kinds of Usability; 2.3 Immediately Helpful Descriptions; 2.4 Issues and Implications; 2.4.1 The time and scope of a principle's usability; 2.4.2 Moral ignorance or uncertainty; 2.4.3 Beliefs and credences; 2.4.4 Unconscious beliefs; 2.4.5 Occurrent versus dispositional beliefs; 2.4.6 Mental representation of a moral principle; 2.4.7 Decision procedures; 2.5 Summary.
  • 3: Impediments to Usability: Error, Ignorance, and Uncertainty3.1 The Theoretical and Practical Domains of a Moral Principle; 3.2 The Impact of Cognitive Limitations on our Ability to Use Moral Principles in Making Decisions: Let Us Count the Ways; 3.2.1 The problem of unintelligibility; 3.2.2 The problem of error regarding nonmoral facts; 3.2.3 The problem of uncertainty about nonmoral facts; 3.2.4 The problem of ignorance of nonmoral facts; 3.2.5 The problem of computational constraints; 3.2.6 The problem of moral error; 3.2.7 The problems of moral uncertainty and ignorance.
  • 3.2.8 The problems of meta-moral uncertainty and error3.3 Responses to Failures of Usability; 3.4 Rationales for the Usability Demand; 3.4.1 Usability required by the concept of morality; 3.4.2 Usability required for justice; 3.4.3 Usability required in order for morality to enhance social welfare; 3.4.4 Usability required for the production of the best pattern of actions; 3.4.5 Further considerations; 4: Pragmatic Responses to the Problem of Error; 4.1 The Problem of Error; 4.2 Merits of the Pragmatic Response as a Response to the Problem of Error.
  • 4.2.1 Conceptual advantages of error-free codes4.2.2 Goal-oriented advantages: enhancement of social welfare; 4.2.3 Goal-oriented advantages: the special social role of morality; 4.2.4 Goal-oriented advantages: ideal patterns of action; 4.3 Achieving Universal Error-Freedom by Pragmatic Responses; 4.4 Achieving Universal Error-Freedom by More Radical Means: Laundry List Codes; 4.5 Achieving Universal Error-Freedom by More Radical Means: Subjectivized Codes; 4.5.1 Possible conceptual advantages of subjectivized moral codes; 4.5.2 Possible goal-oriented advantages of subjectivized moral codes.
  • 4.6 The Splintered Pragmatic Response4.7 Conclusion; 5: A Further Disadvantage of Subjectivized Moral Codes; 5.1 The Moral Duty to Inform Oneself before Acting; 5.2 Three Caveats; 5.3 Epistemic Duties; 5.4 The Duty to Acquire Information before Action: Objective Moral Theories; 5.5 The Duty to Acquire Information: SubjectivizedMoral Theories; 5.5.1 The duty to gather information in subjectivized welfare-maximizing codes; 5.5.2 The duty to gather information in subjectivized codes that include deontic duties: free-standing duties.

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