Against the Priority of Principle
Against the Priority of Principle
This chapter shows how and why the modest assignment of priority to agents is theoretically consequential. It talks about philosophers who extol the importance of virtue and are inclined to some form of anti-theoretical stance in ethics or to some form of particularism. It also argues significant restrictions on the role that moral principles can play in moral justification. The chapter examines the structure of moral justification, elaborating how one is justified in arriving at moral conclusions about specific cases. It addresses questions about the acquisition of moral knowledge, rather than practical questions about how to deliberate in particular cases or metaphysical questions about what makes a given action morally correct.
Keywords: philosophers, virtue, ethics, moral justification, moral knowledge, moral conclusions
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