Synopses & Reviews
Moral Dilemmas is the second volume of collected essays by the eminent moral philosopher Philippa Foot, gathering the best of her work from the late 1970s to the 1990s. It fills the gap between her famous 1978 collection Virtues and Vice (now reissued) and her acclaimed monograph Natural Goodness, published in 2001. In this new collection, Professor Foot develops further her critique of the dominant ethical theories of the last fifty years, and discusses such topics as the nature of moral judgement, practical rationality, and the conflict of virtue with desire and self-interest. Moral Dilemmas, alongside her other two books, completes the summation of her distinctive and lasting contribution to twentieth-century moral philosophy.
Review
"The subject of Mark Bernstein's thoughtful book is what makes something morally considerable....[The] arguments are always cogent, and, in my opinion, in many cases compelling....[an] excellent book."--Times Literary Supplement
Synopsis
This volume gathers the best of Foot's work from the late 1970s to the 1990s. In this collection, she develops further her critique of the dominant ethical theories of the last 50 years, discussing such topics as the nature of moral judgement, practical rationality, and the conflict of virtue with desire and self-interest. Moral Dilemmas, alongside her other two books, completes the summation of Foot's contribution to 20th-century moral philosophy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Morality and Art
2. Moral Relativism
3. Moral Realism and Moral Dilemma
4. Utilitarianism and the Virtues
5. Killing and Letting Die
6. Morality, Action, and Outcome
7. Von Wright on Virtue
8. Locke, Hume, and Modern Moral Theory
9. Nietzsche's Immoralism
10. Rationality and Virtue
11. Moral Dilemmas Revisited
12. Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake?
Select Bibliography of Works by Philippa Foot
Index