On Moral Certainty, Justification and Practice

Hermann, Julia

doi:10.1057/9781137447180

Cited by 28 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It was not in the books. I had 12 One way of discussing this aspect of human life is through the notion of 'basic moral certainty', which is inspired by Wittgenstein's work in On Certainty (see for example Eriksen 2020a, in press;Hermann 2015;O'Hara 2018;Pleasants 2008). It also raises important questions relating to, for instance, discussions of 'conservatism' and 'relativism', but these require more space to elaborate on properly than this article allows for.…”

Section: Cascading Contexts? the Issue Of Delimiting Ethically Releva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual Ethics: Taking the Lead from Wittgenstein and Løgstrup on Ethical Meaning and Normativity

Eriksen

2020

Sats

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A prominent trend in moral philosophy today is the interest in the rich textures of actual human practices and lives. This has prompted engagements with other disciplines, such as anthropology, history, literature, law and empirical science, which have produced various forms of contextual ethics. These engagements motivate reflections on why and how context is important ethically, and such metaethical reflection is what this article undertakes. Inspired by the work of the later Wittgenstein and the Danish theologian K.E. Løgstrup, I first describe one of the ways in which context plays a central role with regard to ethical meaning and normativity. I then examine how ‘context’ is to be defined, and finally I discuss some of the questions which arise when giving context prominence in ethics – namely, how to delimit the scope of relevant context, the relevant traits of a particular context and what ‘the ethical’ is.

show abstract

Section: Cascading Contexts? the Issue Of Delimiting Ethically Releva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual Ethics: Taking the Lead from Wittgenstein and Løgstrup on Ethical Meaning and Normativity

Eriksen

2020

Sats

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…positively or negatively evaluated cultural changes) have also been investigated and discussed -hereunder whether or not he was a conservative thinker (see e.g. Ackermann (1988); von Wright (1993); Holt (1997); Hill (1997); Crary (2000Crary ( , 2007; Pleasants (2000); Cerbone (2003); Tully (2003); Heyes (2003: 4-7); Cahill (2006Cahill ( , 2009; Moore (2010); Bouveresse (2011); Hermann (2015); Read (2016); Diamond (2012Diamond ( , 2019).…”

Section: Heraclitus' Heirmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winds of Change: The Later Wittgenstein’s Conception of the Dynamics of Change

Eriksen

2020

NWR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The theme of change is one of the most prominent traits of Wittgenstein’s later work, and his writings have inspired many contemporary thinkers’ discussions of changes in e.g. concepts, ‘aspect-seeing’, practices, worldviews, and forms of life. However, Wittgenstein’s conception of the dynamics of change has not been investigated in its own right. The aim of this paper is to investigate which understanding of the dynamics of changes can be found in the later Wittgenstein’s work. I will argue that what emerges is a rich and complex picture that has the potential to aid our thinking in politics and elsewhere when developing strategies for creating changes. It can do so both as source of inspiration and by countering tempting, yet ultimately problematic ways of conceptualizing change like the hope for transforming harmful traditions and social practices with the help of a general explanatory theory of the fundamental dynamics of changes.

show abstract

“…Wittgenstein is often interpreted as having shown that both the philosophical doubt about and denial of the existence of the outer world (scepticism), and the attempts to prove the existence of the outer world (realism), are equally meaningless, because both theories entail various misuses of the concepts of knowledge, proof and certainty (Wittgenstein 1997: § 37;Diamond 1999;Moyal-Sharrock 2004, 2009Herman 2015). Whether Wittgenstein is successful in his endeavour is obviously contested.…”

Section: If Moral Cynicism Is Empty So Is Moral Realismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other thinkers using Über Gewissheit as inspiration for work in moral philosophy are, for instance,Pleasants 2008, Herman 2015 and De Mesel 2015 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cavell’s Challenge. Cynicism and Moral Realism in Light of the Later Wittgenstein

Eriksen¹

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Legitimacy challenges are part of human societies. Whenever we recognise a person, law, ideal or institution as authoritative, questions can be raised about their legitimacy. Why follow this law? Why strive to honour this moral ideal? If such questions are repeatedly raised, they pose an undermining threat to the authorities in question. This is good if the challenged law or ideal is harmful, but problematic, if it is beneficial. Where the first kind of legitimacy challenges are raised by ethical pioneers and moral critics, the last kind are posed by cynics, who disregard the demands of law and morality when they conflict with their interests. The threat to human society caused by cynicism is part of the reason why philosophers since Plato have sought to address and rid society of it.This article discusses how philosophy can deal with cynicism. It does so by firstly looking at how Anthony Holiday defends a moral realist theory and disproves ‘the theory of cynicism’ as well as tries to subvert real life cynics. Secondly, the work of the later Wittgenstein is used to discuss Holiday’s approach, finding it to some extent wanting in both its theoretical and practical aims.Lastly, inspired by Stanley Cavell’s thinking it is suggested that cynicism calls for not only problem solving and problem dissolving, but also something we might call reconciliation.

show abstract

On Moral Certainty, Justification and Practice

Cited by 28 publications

References 8 publications

Contextual Ethics: Taking the Lead from Wittgenstein and Løgstrup on Ethical Meaning and Normativity

Contextual Ethics: Taking the Lead from Wittgenstein and Løgstrup on Ethical Meaning and Normativity

Winds of Change: The Later Wittgenstein’s Conception of the Dynamics of Change

Cavell’s Challenge. Cynicism and Moral Realism in Light of the Later Wittgenstein

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About