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On Skepticism About Case-Specific Intuitions, James Mcbain
On Skepticism About Case-Specific Intuitions, James Mcbain
Faculty Submissions
Moral theorizing is often characterized as beginning from our intuitions about ethical cases. Yet, while many applaud, and even demand, this methodology, there are those who reject such a methodology on the grounds that we cannot treat people’s intuitions about ethical cases as evidence for or against moral theories. Recently, Shelly Kagan has argued that the reliance upon case-specific intuitions in moral theorizing is problematic. Specifically, he maintains that the practice of using intuitions about cases lacks justification and, hence, we ought to be skeptical about the evidential weight of moral intuitions. This leads Kagan to conclude that we ought …
Payment For Egg Donation And Surrogacy, Bonnie Steinbock
Payment For Egg Donation And Surrogacy, Bonnie Steinbock
Philosophy Faculty Scholarship
This article examines the ethics of egg donation. It begins by looking at objections to noncommercial gamete donation, and then takes up criticism of commercial egg donation. After discussing arguments based on concern for offspring, inequality, commodification, exploitation of donors, and threats to the family, I conclude that some payment to donors is ethically acceptable. Donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval. Making the distinction between compensation for burdens and payment for a product has the advantages of limiting payment, not distinguishing between donors on the basis …
Moral Callings And The Duty To Have Children: A Response To Jeff Mitchell, James Mcbain
Moral Callings And The Duty To Have Children: A Response To Jeff Mitchell, James Mcbain
Faculty Submissions
Jeff Mitchell argues that the good reason for having children is that parenthood is a “moral calling” and that one should heed the call out of a sense of duty and responsibility for the good of society. I argue such a “moral calling” account is mistaken, first, in that Mitchell problematically assumes the “basic intuition” is mistaken and, second, it fails to provide the epistemic conditions for the warranted belief that one would probably make a good parent (a central consideration of Mitchell’s). Thus, such a “moral calling” rationale for the having of children is not superior to rationales that …
Immanuel Kant (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Immanuel Kant (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS
"Immanuel Kant," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 804-06, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.
Immigration (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Immigration (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS
"Immigration," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 715-17, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.
Kantian Ethics (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Kantian Ethics (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden
Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS
"Kantian Ethics," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 806-08, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.
Wittgenstein And The Recovery Of Virtue, G. Scott Davis
Wittgenstein And The Recovery Of Virtue, G. Scott Davis
Religious Studies Faculty Publications
Modern, scientific, man doesn't see miracles, only odd phenomena that call out for more thorough study. Ethics, like the miraculous, doesn't defy scientific explanation; it just doesn't exist. In what follows I hope to do two things., On the one hand, I want to embrace Wittgenstein's rejection of ethics as theory, in the sense of a systematic body of knowledge about the world. On the other, I hope to suggest that this rejection opens up conceptual space for understanding ethics as a critical human enterprise.