Pragmatic ethics
Pragmatic ethics is a theory of
Martin Benjamin used Neurath's boat as an analogy for pragmatic ethics, likening the gradual change of ethical norms to the reconstruction of a ship at sea by its sailors.[1]
Contrast with other normative theories
Much as it is appropriate for scientists to act as though a hypothesis were true despite expecting future inquiry to supplant it, ethical pragmatists acknowledge that it can be appropriate to practice a variety of other normative approaches (e.g.
Pragmatic ethics also differs from other normative approaches theoretically, according to Hugh LaFollette:[5]
- It focuses on society, rather than on lone individuals, as the entity that achieves morality.[5] In Dewey's words, "all conduct is ... social".[6]
- It does not hold any known moral criteria as beyond potential for revision.C. S. Peirce).[8]
- It allows that a moral judgment may be accepted in one age of a given society, even though it will cease to be accepted after that society abolition of slavery is an example of the improvement of moral judgments through moral inquiry and advocacy.[9]
LaFollette based his account of pragmatic ethics in the writings of John Dewey, but he also found aspects of pragmatic ethics in the texts of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, and Martha Nussbaum.[5]
Barry Kroll, commenting on the pragmatic ethics of
Criticisms
Pragmatic ethics has been criticized for conflating
Moral ecology
Moral ecology is a variation of pragmatic ethics that additionally supposes that morality evolves like an
See also
Notes
- ^ Benjamin 2005.
- ^ a b Liszka 2005.
- ^ Mill 1863.
- ^ Anderson 1991.
- ^ a b c d e f g LaFollette 2000.
- ^ Dewey 1922.
- ^ On inductive and hypothetico-deductive methods and their relation to pragmatist metamethodology, see: Nola & Sankey 2007, pp. 80–183, 312–336
- ^ Almeder 1983.
- ^ Anderson 2015, pp. 27–41.
- ^ Kroll 1997, p. 108.
- ^ Keulartz et al. 2002, p. 252.
- ^ Keulartz et al. 2002, p. 253.
- ^ Keulartz et al. 2002, p. 263.
- ^ Dean 2014, p. 9.
- ^ Bellah et al. 2008, p. 284.
- ^ Hertzke & McRorie 1998.
- ^ Dean 2014, pp. 219–220.
- ^ Dean 2012.
References
- S2CID 120899446.
- S2CID 170339697.
- JSTOR 43661501.
- OCLC 154697787.
- Benjamin, Martin (2005). "Moral reasoning, moral pluralism, and the classroom" (PDF). Philosophy of Education Archive: 23–36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-16.
- Dean, Tim (2012). "Evolution and moral diversity" (PDF). The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication. 7. .
- Dean, Tim (September 2014). Evolution and moral ecology (Ph.D. thesis). Sydney: OCLC 1031063481.
- OCLC 14779049.
- Hertzke, Allen D.; McRorie, Chris (1998). "The concept of moral ecology". In Lawler, Peter Augustine; McConkey, Dale (eds.). Community and political thought today. Westort, CT: OCLC 38732164.
- Keulartz, Jozef; Korthals, Michiel; Schermer, Maartje; Swierstra, Tsjalling (2002). "Pragmatism in action: themes, tasks and tools". In Keulartz, Jozef; Korthals, Michiel; Schermer, Maartje; Swierstra, Tsjalling (eds.). Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture. The library of environmental, agricultural, and food ethics. Vol. 3. Dordrecht; Boston: OCLC 50803266.
- Kroll, Barry M. (Autumn 1997). "Arguing about public issues: what can we learn from practical ethics?". Rhetoric Review. 16 (1): 105–119. JSTOR 465966.
- LaFollette, Hugh (2000). "Pragmatic ethics". In LaFollette, Hugh (ed.). The Blackwell guide to ethical theory. Blackwell philosophy guides. Oxford, UK; Malden, MA: OCLC 41645965.
- Liszka, James (2005). "What is pragmatic ethics?". american-philosophy.org. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- OCLC 4458249.
- Nola, Robert; Sankey, Howard (2007). Theories of scientific method: an introduction. Philosophy and science. Vol. 2. Montréal: OCLC 144602109.
Further reading
- Anderson, Elizabeth S. (2019) [2005]. "Dewey's moral philosophy". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA: Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
- OCLC 9684514.
- OCLC 40166885.
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- OCLC 769152067.
- Fesmire, Steven (2003). John Dewey and moral imagination: pragmatism in ethics. Bloomington, IN: OCLC 51342459.
- OCLC 294886662.
- Heney, Diana B. (2016). Toward a pragmatist metaethics. Routledge studies in American philosophy. Vol. 6. London; New York: OCLC 934677272.
- Johnson, Craig E. (2020). "Pragmatism: ethics as inquiry". Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: casting light or shadow (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: OCLC 1123184465.
- Keith, Heather E. (2014). "Beyond fixed ends and limited moral community: Aristotle, Dewey, and contemporary applications in ethics". In Kirby, Christopher C. (ed.). Dewey and the ancients: essays on Hellenic and Hellenistic themes in the philosophy of John Dewey. Bloomsbury studies in American philosophy. London; New York: OCLC 879032785.
- LaFollette, Hugh (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: OCLC 64594298.
- Lekan, Todd (2003). Making morality: pragmatist reconstruction in ethical theory. Nashville, TN: OCLC 50643701.
- Liszka, James Jakób (2021). Pragmatist ethics: a problem-based approach to what matters. SUNY series in American philosophy and cultural thought. Albany: OCLC 1240773915.
- OCLC 32968697.
- OCLC 144612699.
- Martin, Mike W. (2007). "Pragmatism". Everyday morality: an introduction to applied ethics (4th ed.). Australia; Belmont, CA: OCLC 70200202.
- OCLC 41548164.
- Massecar, Aaron (2016). Ethical habits: a Peircean perspective. American philosophy. Lanham, MD: OCLC 933590267.
- OCLC 177008090.
- OCLC 960762185.
- Pearce, Trevor (2017). "American pragmatism, evolution, and ethics" (PDF). In OCLC 986237281.
- Preti, Alan A. (2018). "Developing habits of moral reflection: Dewey, moral inquiry, and practical ethics". In Englehardt, Elaine E.; Pritchard, Michael S. (eds.). Ethics across the curriculum—pedagogical perspectives. Cham: OCLC 1028210172.
- Rogers, Melvin L. (2009). The undiscovered Dewey: religion, morality, and the ethos of democracy. New York: OCLC 226360283.
- Schwartz, Robert (2020). "Pragmatic constructivism: values, norms, and obligations". Pragmatic perspectives: constructivism beyond truth and realism. Routledge studies in American philosophy. Vol. 20. New York: OCLC 1099272725.
- Schweigert, Francis J. (2016). Business ethics education and the pragmatic pursuit of the good. Advances in business ethics research. Vol. 6. New York: OCLC 945949279.
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- OCLC 712926703.
- Welchman, Jennifer (2005). "Virtue ethics and human development: a pragmatic approach". In Gardiner, Stephen Mark (ed.). Virtue ethics, old and new. Ithaca, NY: OCLC 57392881.
- Welchman, Jennifer (2010). "Dewey's moral philosophy". In Cochran, Molly (ed.). The Cambridge companion to Dewey. Cambridge companions to philosophy. Cambridge, UK; New York: OCLC 495996820.
- OCLC 24872093.
- OCLC 1001807497.
- OCLC 123154931.