Original scientific paper
The saucer of mud, the Kudzu vine and the uxorious cheetah: Against neo-Aristotelian naturalism in metaethics
James Lenman
Abstract
The early part of this paper criticizes Anscombe and Quinn on the relationship between value and desire. Their influential discussions of strange and unusual desires do not, I argue, show what they are intended to show. The remainder focuses primarily on the views of Foot, discussing her objections to subjectivism and in particular expressivism. The expressivist, she claims, can not make adequate sense of the way we apply evaluative terms to nonsentient living things such as plants. I argue to the contrary and urge that the metaethical significance of such applications is greatly exaggerated by Foot and other neo-Aristotelian naturalists.
Keywords
Ethics; Naturalism; Philippa Foot; G. E. Anscombe; W.V.O. Quinn; Rosalind Hursthouse
Hrčak ID:
91123
URI
Publication date:
10.11.2005.
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