Moral Perfectionism: Ethical Theory from a Pragmatic Approach

• Authors: Carlos Mougán
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article tries to rescue the perfectionist approach to moral theory from the pragmatic tradition and inspiration. Based on the philosophy of Dewey and taking into account authors like H. Putnam or S. Cavell, it tries to defend the idea that pragmatism allows us to understand moral perfectionism in a new way. In that way, perfectionism is bound to a certain interpretation of practical rationality, and a new understanding of moral objectivity and human subjectivity. Finally, moral perfectionism is not a theory that aims to solve all moral dilemmas but provides an understanding of how to face up to the problems of ordinary moral life.

Keywords

EN

Pragmatism; perfectionism; moral theory

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 44-51

Dates

published

2009-06-01

online

2009-03-21

Contributors

author

Carlos Mougán

• Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Cádiz, Avda, Republica Saharaui s/n., Puerto Real (Cádiz) 11510, Spain

References

• Bakhurst, D. Pragmatism and Ethical Particularism. In C. J. Misak (Ed.). New Pragmatists. Oxford: Clarendom Press, 2007.
• Cavell, S.Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome. The Constitution of Emersonian Perfectionism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
• Dewey, J.The Collected Works of John Dewey. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969-1991.
• Gouinlock, J. (Ed). The Moral Writings of J. Dewey. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Book, 1994.
• Hurka, T.Perfectionism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Murdoch, I.La soberanía del bien. Madrid: Caparrós Editores, 2001.
• Nussbaum, M.La fragilidad del bien. Fortuna y ética en la tragedia y la filosofía griega. Madrid: Visor, 1995.
• Pappas, G. P.John Dewey's Ethic. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008.
• Putnam, H.El desplome de la dicotomía hecho- valor y otros ensayos. Barcelona: Paidós, 2004.
• Wall, S. Perfectionism in Moral and Political Philosophy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Spring 2007 ed. Zalta, E. (Ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2007/entries/perfectionismmoral/.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10023-009-0019-7