יום ב' 03.03.2008 18:00 - 20:00
חדר 449 בנין גילמן

במסגרת קולוקוויום בר הילל

Professor Philip Kitcher,
Department of Philosophy, Columbia University

Ethics after Darwin

Commentator: Oren Harman, Bar Ilan Univeristy

התכנסות לקפה וכיבוד קל בשעה 17:30, ליד חדר 449
ההרצאה תינתן בשפה האנגלית!

 

Naturalism means many things to many people, and the views that advertise themselves as ethical naturalism are only slightly less diverse. The most prominent versions of ethical naturalism on the contemporary philosophical scene tend to draw inspiration from Darwin and Hume, to suppose that recent investigations in primatology, neuroscience, and general evolutionary theory have buttressed Hume’s thought that human beings have a capacity for other-directed sentiments, a capacity that provides the basis for ethics. But while this may be part of the story, it is, I think, only a part. I propose to think of ethical naturalism as a two-part claim. First, the ethical practices of contemporary human groups have a long history, one that involves the emergence under atural selection of various emotions and psychological capacities, as well as a sociocultural evolution of stories and prescriptions, exemplars and ideals, sanctions, rewards and systems of education. Second, the philosophical issues that arise concerning our ethical practices, substantive questions about what we should do, as well as concerns about the status of those practices, are best approached through an understanding of the main features of this history. A corollary of this latter claim is that many well-known philosophical proposals about ethics need substantial revision once the long route to our current position is recognized. I shall try to explain the history as I think we should currently understand it. I will then attempt to draw out some implications for discussions in ethics.

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