“I think we do have a better understanding now of how moral thought and discourse function.” ThinkingUnderstandingMoralFunctionDiscourse Author:Catherine Wilson
“About 70% of what I've written about is centered on the clashes and conformities between the emerging life and physical sciences and older metaphysical frameworks in the 17th and 18th centuries. The other 30% consists of one-off essays or researches into other intriguing contemporary topics such as visual experience, aesthetics, social justice issues, and the epistemology of moral knowledge.” SocialJusticeMoralIssuesWrittenCenturyResearchSocial JusticeContemporaryVisualsConformityTopicsMetaphysicalEssaysFrameworkAestheticsEmergingClashIntriguingEpistemology18th CenturyPhysical Science Author:Catherine Wilson
“Leibniz accepted the argument that there must be indestructible simple entities if there is to be a complex world, but Epicurean morals and politics and anti-theology dismayed him. His 'monadology' which said that the true atoms of nature were unextended 'living mirrors,' was an imaginative and beautiful system, and even in many ways more modern than Epicurean atomism, than Epicurean atomism, but there was a reactionary aspect to it.” IfsWorldWaySaidBeautifulSimpleMoralModernAspectArgumentMirrorsComplexesAcceptedTheologyAtomsEntityImaginativeReactionariesIndestructibleDismayedEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson
“Moral theory develops from the divine command theory of medieval Christian philosophy, mixed up with a bit of ancient pagan virtue theory, to the purely secular moral sentiment and interpersonal reaction theories of Smith and Hume, to Kant's attempt to restore command theory but with something supersensible in the individual rather than God as the source of authority.” PhilosophyChristianIndividualBitsMoralVirtueDivineTheorySourceAuthorityAncientReactionsCommandSentimentsSecularMedievalPaganInterpersonalHumeChristian Philosophy Author:Catherine Wilson
“We are now returning to the 18th century empirical approach with the new interest in the evolutionary basis of ethics, with 'experimental' moral philosophy and moral psychology. As a result, we understand better why moral formulas are experienced as ineluctable commands, even if there is no commander and even if the notion of an inescapable obligation is just superstition. So moral philosophy has made huge progress.” IfsMadePhilosophyInterestResultsMoralPsychologyProgressCenturyHugeApproachEthicsBasesNotionObligationCommandFormulasSuperstitionsCommanders18th CenturyMoral Philosophy Author:Catherine Wilson
“In Western Europe and North America some things are better than they were - at least relative to their moral nadirs - such as labour legislation, the opening of the professions to women, intolerance for domestic violence, but so much is still morally unacceptable - the weapons trade, cruel and unusual punishment, economic parasitism.” StillsAmericaMoralViolenceEconomicWeaponsEuropeTradeWesternProfessionPunishmentOpeningLabourUnusualRelativeIntoleranceLegislationDomestic ViolenceNorth AmericaWestern EuropeNadirCruel And Unusual Punishment Author:Catherine Wilson
“We call 'Slavery is wrong' a moral truth because there is a specific history of theoretical investigation of a particular kind of slavery. We discussed it for centuries in metaphysical, economic, biological, and philosophical terms; we listened to all the arguments pro and con, we read all the testimonies of slaves and witnesses, and we decided. Though this 'we" is not everybody on earth, or even most people, who've never thought about slavery much.” PeopleKindEarthTermMoralEconomicCenturyParticularTruth IsArgumentDecidedPhilosophicalSlaverySlaveWitnessInvestigationMetaphysicalTestimonyTheoreticalPros And Cons Author:Catherine Wilson
“Moral claims aren't, as a class, truth-value apt or not.” ValuesMoralClassClaims Author:Catherine Wilson
“A moral rule is essentially 'advantage-reducing.' It prohibits you doing something you could do that would serve your interests at someone else's expense.” InterestMoralAdvantageExpensesReducing Author:Catherine Wilson
“There is no single test or formula for producing moral progress anymore than there is for generating scientific truths. It is a process involving theoreticians, fact-gatherers, protestors, martyrs for the cause, authors of first- person narratives who change the way we see and evaluate the distribution of harms and benefits.” WayFirstsPersonsFactsCausesProcessMoralProgressBenefitsTestsHarmNarrativeFormulasDistributionMartyrEvaluateInvolvingFirst PersonScientific Truth Author:Catherine Wilson
“Gentlemanly, principled, helpful behaviour by older men vis-a-vis young women goes unnoticed, but it deserves real moral credit, and we could use more first-person testimony from the beneficiaries and practitioners about that too.” MenFirstsPersonsRealUseYoungMoralDeserveCreditHelpfulBehaviourYoung WomenTestimonyFirst PersonUnnoticedPrincipledBeneficiariesOlder ManGentlemanly Author:Catherine Wilson