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Palgrave Macmillan 2005
Abstract
The book defends a form of ethical intuitionism, according to which
(i) there are objective moral truths;
(ii) we know some of these truths through a kind of immediate, intellectual awareness, or “intuition”; and
(iii) our knowledge of moral truths gives us reasons for action independent of our desires.
Michael Huemer confronts the major objections to this theory, arguing that contrary to what has often been assumed, the theory does have the resources to explain moral disagreements and to offer a reasonable approach to resolving some of them. The major alternative theories, including subjectivism, nihilism, and reductionism, are shown to face decisive objections.
Comments
“Read this. It is the best book ever written on meta-ethics. Even philosophers who know the field may feel as though they are confronting these issues for the first time. I used to think of ethical intuitionism as a silly, naïve, even ridiculous theory, but Michael Huemer has made an intuitionist out of me.”
Stuart Rachels, Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama
“Huemer’s book may be the best, most comprehensive defense of ethical intuitionism since Moore’s Principia Ethica. . . . [It] is an outstanding defense of the view that there are objective moral truths knowable through intuition. Whether or not one agrees with Huemer’s conclusions, one cannot ignore the power of his arguments.”
Richard Fumerton, Department of Philosophy, University of Iowa
Analytical Contents
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Ethical Intuitionism by Michael Huemer
