Book contents
- Ethics in the Gray Area
- Ethics in the Gray Area
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Meaning Tracks Use
- Chapter 2 Conflicting Reasons
- Chapter 3 Conflicting Sources of Normativity
- Chapter 4 The Binary Theory
- Chapter 5 Moral Indeterminacy and Vagueness
- Chapter 6 Normative Ethics for Gradualists
- Chapter 7 Rational Choice for Gradualists
- Chapter 8 Indeterminate and Vague Laws
- Chapter 9 Depolarization
- Conclusions
- References
- Index
Chapter 2 - Conflicting Reasons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023
- Ethics in the Gray Area
- Ethics in the Gray Area
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Meaning Tracks Use
- Chapter 2 Conflicting Reasons
- Chapter 3 Conflicting Sources of Normativity
- Chapter 4 The Binary Theory
- Chapter 5 Moral Indeterminacy and Vagueness
- Chapter 6 Normative Ethics for Gradualists
- Chapter 7 Rational Choice for Gradualists
- Chapter 8 Indeterminate and Vague Laws
- Chapter 9 Depolarization
- Conclusions
- References
- Index
Summary
Ordinary language users do in fact use RIGHT and WRONG in ways that permit of degrees, as pointed out in Chapter 1, but advocates of the binary theory may question the philosophical relevance of this. Meaning tracks use, but it is not certain that the current meanings (and uses) of RIGHT and WRONG are optimal. Gradualists need to show that the gradable notions of RIGHT and WRONG used by laypeople are better than their binary rivals and ought to be adopted by moral philosophers. The focus of this chapter is on what I call the argument from conflicting reasons. This argument seeks to show that gradable notions of RIGHT and WRONG enable moral theorists to articulate nuanced verdicts about moral conflicts, which cannot be expressed in binary theories. The gist of the argument is as follows: Some moral conflicts are irresolvable, and in those cases the deontic properties of acts favored and disfavored by conflicting reasons cannot be accurately captured by binary deontic verdicts.
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- Information
- Ethics in the Gray AreaA Gradualist Theory of Right and Wrong, pp. 37 - 58Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023