Sensibility theory and conservative complancency

Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 86 (4):544–555 (2005)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In Ruling Passions, Simon Blackburn contends that we should reject sensibility theory because it serves to support a conservative complacency. Blackburn's strategy is attractive in that it seeks to win this metaethical dispute – which ultimately stems from a deep disagreement over antireductionism – on the basis of an uncontroversial normative consideration. Therefore, Blackburn seems to offer an easy solution to an apparently intractable debate. We will show, however, that Blackburn's argument against sensibility theory does not succeed; it is no more supportive of conservative complacency than Blackburn's noncognitivism. A victory for noncognitivism cannot be so easily won.

Similar books and articles

Mencius, Hume, and sensibility theory.Xiusheng Liu - 2002 - Philosophy East and West 52 (1):75-97.
Conservative theories of classical truth.Volker Halbach - 1999 - Studia Logica 62 (3):353-370.
Deflationism, conservativeness and maximality.Cezary Cieśliński - 2007 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 36 (6):695 - 705.
Quasi-realism, sensibility theory, and ethical relativism.Simon Kirchin - 2000 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 43 (4):413 – 427.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
565 (#31,413)

6 months
104 (#42,399)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Peter Ross
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Dale Turner
University of California, Riverside
Dale Turner
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Citations of this work

Virtue and Disagreement.Bridget Clarke - 2010 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13 (3):273-291.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind.John R. Searle - 1983 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
The moral problem.Michael Smith - 1994 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind.John R. Searle - 1983 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Intention.G. E. M. Anscombe - 1957 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Principia ethica.George Edward Moore - 1903 - Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. Edited by Thomas Baldwin.

View all 46 references / Add more references