Ethics appears early in the life of a culture. It is not the creation of philosophers. Many philosophers today think that their job is to take the ethics of their society in hand, analyse it into parts, purge the bad ideas, and organize the good into a systematic moral theory. The philosophers' ethics that results is likely to be very different from the culture's raw ethics and, they think, being better, should replace it. But few of us, even among philosophers, settle real-life moral questions by consulting the Categorical Imperative or the Principle of Utility, largely because, if we do, we often do not trust the outcome or cannot even reliably enough decide what it is. By contrast, James Griffin explores the question what philosophers can reasonably expect to contribute to normative ethics or to the ethics of a culture. Griffin argues that moral philosophers must tailor their work to what ordinary humans' motivational capabilities, and he offers a new account of moral deliberation.

About the Author
James Griffin is White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, Emeritus. He is the author of On Human Rights (OUP, 2008), Well-Being (OUP, 1988), and Value Judgement (Clarendon Press, 1996).

Reviews
worth reading for its provocative critique of impartiality and corresponding accounts of the limits of moral theory and nature of ethics. * Marcus Arvan, Journal of Moral Philosophy *
a challenge to some of the deepest assumptions of contemporary philosophy. * Max Hayward, Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198748090
Author James Griffin
Format Hardback
Page Count 166
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 344g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 150mm * 17mm