Abstract

Science is unable to provide us with an effective means for rationally justifying value claims. While the methods of science give us to the ability to determine what is the case regarding the world, they are not suited to determine what should be the case in the future. Scientific knowledge is descriptive, not prescriptive. Due to the fact that a robust ethical theory can only be developed given a means for rationally justifying value claims, a function that science is unable to carry out, the development of a non-scientific means for evaluating human behavior is required in order to produce an ethical theory capable of intelligently guiding human action. ;The history of ethical theory is essentially a series of attempts to develop an effective means for rationally evaluating human action. Unfortunately, most of these attempts were very unsuccessful. A reconsideration of Aristotle's ethical theory, in the light of new research, may be the best chance to develop a means for rationally evaluating human action. If Aristotle fails, then the future of ethics is most likely to be a dead end. If Aristotle is successful, then a clear direction for further research regarding ethical theory will be established