24.230
Meta-ethics
Considers a range of philosophical questions about the foundations of morality, such as whether and in what sense morality is objective, the nature of moral discourse, and how we can come to know right from wrong. Enrollment may be limited; preference to Course 24 majors and minors.
Fall 2015
Topics
- Introduction
- Naturalism vs. Non-naturalism
- Moral Explanations
- Disagreement and Oddness
- Fictionalism
- Relativism
- Non-cognitivism
- Reason and Morality
Readings
- Smith, Michael. “What is The Moral Problem?” Chapter 1.1–1.3 in The Moral Problem . Wiley-Blackwell, 1994. ISBN: 9780631192466.
- Plato. Euthyphro . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. ISBN: 9781479283071.
- Moore, G. E. “The Subject-Matter of Ethics.” Chapter 1 in Principia Ethica . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. ISBN: 9781456569907.
- Boyd, Richard. “How to be a Moral Realist.” Chapter 1.1–4.5 in Essays on Moral Realism . Cornell University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801495410.
- Mackie, J. L. “The Subjectivity of Values.” In Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong . Penguin, 1977.
- Enoch, David. “Metaphysics.” In Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism . Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199683178.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: One philosophy subject or permission of instructor U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2015
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.