Ethical Pluralism

A Brief Overview Of My Dissertation

November 7, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 5 Comments

Nietzsche’s writings on morality are famously provocative and controversial. His criticisms of morality in both theory and practice are so extensive and rhetorically scathing that many philosophers assume that he can offer little or nothing constructive to moral philosophy. Additionally, his glorification of the will to power sounds prima facie like a celebration of excessively [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Duty, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Featured, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Moral Psychology, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Virtues Tagged With: "On Deriving and Defending An Axiology of the Will To Power", Absolutism, Christian Morality, Consequentialism, Dissertation, Duty, Happiness, Heteronomy, Immoralism, Indirect Consequentialism, Instrumental Goods, Intrinsic Goods, Jonathan Haidt, Kantian Moral Philosophy, Moral Absolutism, Pleasure, Self-Overcoming, Virtue, Will to Power 5 Comments

Philosophical Ethics: Can We Uphold A Moral Law And A Principle That We Should Break It?

October 19, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 10 Comments

In a series of posts this semester, I am going to blog all (or almost all) the lecture topics for the two Philosophical Ethics classes I am teaching this semester. Each of these posts will primarily explicate the reading or a theme that dominated class discussion in a way that should be accessible to novices [...]

Filed Under: Andrew Sullivan, Applied Ethics, Civil Liberties, Contemporary Ethics, Duty, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Featured, Law, Law & Politics, Moral Psychology, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Torture Tagged With: Chris Bodenner, Hard Truths, Hypocrisy, Lying, Matt Damon, Moral Dilemmas, Slavoj Zizek, Truth, Universalizability 10 Comments

Camels With Hammers Philosophy

September 27, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 1 Comment

After this introductory paragraph, every sentence in this post will summarize and link a different post expressing my views, primarily on topics related to atheism, philosophy, and ethics—which are the primary preoccupations of this blog. I am organizing all of these links into this one summary statement of “Camels With Hammers’ Philosophy.” This post will [...]

Filed Under: About This Blog, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authority, Autonomy, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Duty, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Evolutionary Psychology, Faith, Featured, Fundamentalism, God, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Metaphysics, Moral Psychology, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Politics, Psychology, Religion and Science, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Sociobiology, Teleology, Virtues, Why I Am Not A Christian Tagged With: Camels With Hammers 1 Comment

What’s Wrong With Prejudice And Is It Prejudicial To Dislike Someone Over His Bad Thinking?

August 4, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 6 Comments

Over at Unreasonable Faith, guest contributor Custador thinks he is a bigoted atheist: The knowledge that my cousin is a creationist has actually made me dislike him. I wonder now if I’m any better than any other prejudiced person — a racist or a sexist or a homophobe — because I pre-judge a group of [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Faith, Featured, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Prejudice, Secularism, Virtues Tagged With: Bias, Character, Fairness, Rational Evaluation, Unconditional Love, Value Perception, Value Theory, Volitional Love 6 Comments

Are Sex and Morality Merely “Evolutionary Tricks”?

August 1, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 4 Comments

Francis Collins trots out a familiar old argument against atheism. The argument is that if there is no God then our morality is an illusion. Collins’s presentation of this argument features an unusual and suspicious spin. Collins knows that arguments can be made from evolutionary psychology that broadly moral thinking seems to have evolved in [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Francis Collins, Moral Psychology, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Psychology, Religion, Sex, Social Psychology, Sociobiology Tagged With: Altruism, Charles Manson, Social Virtues, Sociopaths 4 Comments

Coyne Vs. The Dogma That Religion Aids Moral Progress

July 31, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 1 Comment

As part of a 9 page critical review of Robert Wright’s The Evolution of God, Jerry Coyne levels more than a few incisive challenges countering Wright’s faith in religion as an indispensible aid to moral progress. Here are just a few of Coyne’s key points. First he enlists David Hume to challenge Wright’s assumption that [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, God, Historical Ethics, Islam, Philosophical Ethics, Political Secularism, Religion Tagged With: AC Grayling, David Hume, History of Religion, Jerry Coyne, Monotheism, Philosophy of Religion, Polytheism, Robert Wright 1 Comment

Further Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation

July 17, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 1 Comment

In reply to a recent post, Tyler writes: Your definition of ethics and morality is well taken and allows for further interesting debate on culture and moral systems but it still requires assumption of benefit. Defining phrases like “fully flourishing life” and “most excellent characters we can develop” require a standard of evaluation which I [...]

Filed Under: Authority, Duty, Ethical Pluralism, Uncategorized Tagged With: Arete, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Care, Equality, Ethics, Evolutionary Psychology, Excellence, Fairness, Fruits and Ladders, Harm, Human Flourishing, Ingroup Loyalty, Jonathan Haidt, Justice, Moral Goods, Moral Psychology, Moralism, Motives, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Non-Moral Goods, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Purity, Quality vs. Quantity, Sociobiology, Tyler Samien, Values, Virtues 1 Comment

Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation

July 6, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 2 Comments

In a previous post, I raised some remarks from psychologist of morality Jonathan Haidt, in which he discussed his theory that moral thinking appeals to 5 essential modules hardwired into our brains by evolution. In the interview I cited from a couple of years ago he only referred to 4 of the 5 modules but [...]

Filed Under: Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Autonomy, Duty, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Sociobiology, Virtues Tagged With: Arete, Aristotle, Care, Equality, Excellence, Fairness, Harm, Human Flourishing, Immanuel Kant, Ingroup Loyalty, Jonathan Haidt, Justice, Moral Goods, Moralism, Motives, Nietzsche, Non-Moral Goods, Purity, Thomas Hurka, Tyler Samien, Values, Virtues 2 Comments

Moral Integration, or the Pros and Cons of Moral Absolutism and Ethical Pluralism

July 2, 2009 By Daniel Fincke 1 Comment

Aaron writes this wonderfully thought provoking reply to my post about moral motivation apart from reference to God: I had an argument a few years back with someone over this. She thought I’d go to hell for not believing in Jesus, even thought she thought I was a great person. I found that troubling. It [...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Fundamentalism, Islam, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion Tagged With: Burqa, Culture, Exclusiveness, Group Psychology, Inclusiveness, Islamic Civilization, Jacques Derrida, Moral Absolutism, Moral Integration, Moral Relativism, Multiculturalism, Nietzsche, Original Sin, Philosophy, Pluralism, Redemption, Religion, Thus Spoke Z, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Values Transformation, Western Civilization 1 Comment

A Brief Overview Of My Dissertation

Philosophical Ethics: Can We Uphold A Moral Law And A Principle That We Should Break It?

Camels With Hammers Philosophy

What’s Wrong With Prejudice And Is It Prejudicial To Dislike Someone Over His Bad Thinking?

Coyne Vs. The Dogma That Religion Aids Moral Progress

Further Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation

Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation

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