This seminar probes the possibility of finding a
holistic,
non-teleological, autonomous
and critically rational
foundation for our values.
Considering
After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre, Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0 268 00611 3
(The Justification of Science and the Rationality of Religious Belief, Michael Banner, Clarendon Press, Oxford, ISBN 0 19 824821 0, OUT OF PRINT)
Does God Exist? Hans Kung, Crossroad, ISBN 0 8245 1119 0
The Imperative of Responsibility, Hans Jonas, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0 226 40596 6
The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch, Allen Lane The Penguim Press, ISBN 0 713 990619
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0 226 45804 0
Glogal Responsibility:In Search of a New World Ethic, Hans Kung, Crossroad, ISBN 0-8245-1102-6
(Chance and
Necessity,
Jacques Monod, Vintage Press, ISBN 0 394 71825 9, OUT OF PRINT)
Handouts, Professional Papers on Related Material
Abstract:
The current
state of the ethical dialogue is characterized by emotivism. This is a
consequence
of the failure of
the
Enlightenment to provide a rational foundation for ethics in the
absence of
an accepted telos.
Can science
clarify what is meant by a rational basis? What is the
alternative to Nietzsche's conclusions
after diagnosing
the
failure of the Enlightenment? Aristotle stresses the
primacy of virtue
over
rules and rights. Can a modern understanding of virtue be derived from
an analysis of
the
virtues from ancient to modern times? How do these considerations apply
to the global
ethical
questions posed by the advance of post-modern science?