Ethical Anti-theory

Ethicists often attempt to refine, systematize, and explain ordinary ethical convictions by getting them to follow from a small number of less familiar, more fundamental philosophical principles. Some ethicists challenge this theory-based conception of the subject, suggesting other pictures of the role philosophical reflection might play in our ethical lives. This course is an effort to understand and assess the work of four recent critics of large scale ethical theory: Iris Murdoch, Bernard Williams, Stuart Hampshire, and Philippa Foot.