Value and context : the nature of moral and political knowledge / Alan Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Alan, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Alan Thomas presents an original study of the status of value and its relation to the contexts in which evaluative claims are justified. He articulates and defends the view that human beings do possess moral and political knowledge, but that it is historically and culturally contextual knowledge in ways that, say, mathematical or chemical knowledge is not. His exposition of a 'cognitivist contextualism' in ethics and politics builds upon contemporary work in epistemology, moralphilosophy, and political theory to fashion an argument that is relevant to current debates about culture, modernity,

Contents:

Part I : Moral knowledge and moral reasons

The problem of moral knowledge

The case for cognitivism

Values, norms, and the practical

Internal reasons and contractualist impartiality

Part II : Norm-expressivism and non-objectivism

A critique of expressivism

Non-objectivism and internal realism

Part III : Contextualist moral justification

Epistemological contextualism

A contextual model of moral justification

Tradition based moral enquiry

Moral belief and the possibility of error

Part IV : Contextualism in political philosophy

Political liberalism and contextualism

Political liberalism and civic Republicanism.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-339) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-161518-8

0-19-958727-2

1-281-14721-4

9786611147211

0-19-152015-2

1-4356-1918-8

OCLC:

190859175