Philosophy 190-2

The work of Philippa Foot (1920-2010) and Michael Thompson (1959-) is widely regarded as articulating a general approach to understanding moral goodness as a species of natural goodness, and hence as grounding ethics in human nature. On their view, virtues like courage, justice, generosity, and charity are human excellences in much the same way that strong and sturdy roots are excellences for a tree: they are dispositions that contribute to our flourishing as the kinds of being that we are. Foot and Thompson’s style of ethical naturalism attracts many because it offers to integrate human moral value into the natural world without appeal to metaphysical mysteries, but it has also faced many criticisms: is it at odds with contemporary biological science, problematically reductionist about distinctively rational and moral agency, an inadequate alternative to its rivals in meta-ethics and normative ethics alike? In this seminar, we will study Foot’s Natural Goodness and Thompson’s Life and Action along with some of their sources, some prominent critics, and some recent attempts to defend or revise their approach in light of those criticisms.