Survival is the Ultimate End
Abstract
According to the neo-Aristotelian moral tradition, every living thing has an ultimate end: To flourish as a member of its species. This view of the ultimate end shapes inquiry into what is the ultimate end of human living things. In this paper, I develop an alternative view of the ultimate end of a living thing: The ultimate end is only to survive, not as a member of a species, but as a living thing. There are four steps to my development. First, I criticize the prevailing species-based view of the ultimate end. Second, I argue that other-regarding behavior is not normative for living things; only survival is. Third, I elucidate a new and what I take to be correcting understanding of survival. Fourth, I programmatically develop the idea that inquiry into human well-being and into morality (for human beings) should be understood as aspects of inquiry into human survival.Author's Profile
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References found in this work
Apprehending Human Form.Michael Thompson - 2004 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 54:47-74.
Human good and human function.Gavin Lawrence - 2006 - In Richard Kraut (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Blackwell.
Snakes in Paradise: Problems in the Ideal Life.Gavin Lawrence - 2005 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 43 (S1):126-165.