Ethics Without Ontology Revised Edition Contributor(s): Putnam, Hilary (Author) |
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ISBN: 0674018516 ISBN-13: 9780674018518 Publisher: Harvard University Press OUR PRICE: $31.68 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2005 Annotation: In this brief book one of the most distinguished living American philosophers takes up the question of whether ethical judgments can properly be considered objective--a question that has vexed philosophers over the past century. Looking at the efforts of philosophers from the Enlightenment through the twentieth century, Putnam traces the ways in which ethical problems arise in a historical context. Hilary Putnam's central concern is ontology--indeed, the very idea of ontology as the division of philosophy concerned with what (ultimately) exists. Reviewing what he deems the disastrous consequences of ontology's influence on analytic philosophy--in particular, the contortions it imposes upon debates about the objective of ethical judgments--Putnam proposes abandoning the very idea of ontology. He argues persuasively that the attempt to provide an ontological explanation of the objectivity of either mathematics or ethics is, in fact, an attempt to provide justifications that are extraneous to mathematics and ethics--and is thus deeply misguided. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern - Philosophy | Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Philosophy | Epistemology |
Dewey: 191 |
Physical Information: 0.56" H x 5.06" W x 7.96" (0.43 lbs) 176 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: In this brief book one of the most distinguished living American philosophers takes up the question of whether ethical judgments can properly be considered objective--a question that has vexed philosophers over the past century. Looking at the efforts of philosophers from the Enlightenment through the twentieth century, Putnam traces the ways in which ethical problems arise in a historical context. Hilary Putnam's central concern is ontology--indeed, the very idea of ontology as the division of philosophy concerned with what (ultimately) exists. Reviewing what he deems the disastrous consequences of ontology's influence on analytic philosophy--in particular, the contortions it imposes upon debates about the objective of ethical judgments--Putnam proposes abandoning the very idea of ontology. He argues persuasively that the attempt to provide an ontological explanation of the objectivity of either mathematics or ethics is, in fact, an attempt to provide justifications that are extraneous to mathematics and ethics--and is thus deeply misguided. |
Contributor Bio(s): Putnam, Hilary: - Hilary Putnam was Cogan University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. |