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Quote by Allen W. Wood

“In any matter of moral importance, our first task, before we plunge ahead and decide what to do, is to figure out what we ought to do.”

Quote by Allen W. Wood

Author

Allen W. Wood, born in 1942, is a renowned professor in the field of philosophy. He has made significant contributions to ethics and political philosophy, with a rich academic career that spans several decades. Wood's research has influenced scholars worldwide, and his works have provided new insights into moral and political theories. more

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“We can make mistakes about what we ought to do, and these are not the same as making bad decisions about what to do.”

Decision Mistake Ought Making Mistakes Bad Decision

Author:Allen W. Wood

“If we decide rightly what to do, or use a correct procedure for making such decisions, that has to be because the decisions or the procedure rest on good reasons, and these reasons consist in the apprehension of truths about what we ought to do. Because these truths must constitute reasons for our decisions, and because in the rational order, reasons must always precede the decisions based on them, the truth conditions of claims about what we ought to cannot be reduced to, or constructed out of, decisions about what to do, or procedures for making such decisions.”

Ifs Reason Use Order Decision Conditions Ought Claims Rational Procedures Apprehension

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Kantian ethical theory distinguishes three levels: First, that of a fundamental principle (the categorical imperative, formulated in three main ways in Kant's Groundwork); second, a set of duties, not deduced from but derived from this principle, by way of its interpretation or specification, its application to the general conditions of human life - which Kant does in the Doctrine of virtue, the second main part of the Metaphysics of Morals; and then finally an act of judgment, through which these duties are applied to particular cases.”

“Kant thinks of judgment as a special faculty or talent of the mind, not reducible to discursive reasoning but cultivated through experience and practice.”

Thinking Mind Practice Special Talent Judgment Reasoning Faculty

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Kant's system of duties constitutes a Doctrine of Virtue because the duties also indicate what kinds of attitudes, dispositions and feelings are morally virtuous or vicious.”

Kind Feelings Attitude Virtue Duty Doctrine Virtuous Disposition Vicious

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Kant's description of most ethical duties reads more like a description of moral virtues and vices. Once we see this, we see that Kantian ethics is indeed a kind of virtue ethics, and that it does not "divide the heart from the head" (to anticipate one of your later questions) but instead recognizes the deep truth that reason and emotion are not opposites.”

Heart Kind Doe Reason Emotion Moral Virtue Duty Ethics Opposites Vices Description Ethical Divides Anticipate Moral Virtues Reason And Emotion

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Reason necessarily expresses itself through emotions and emotions are healthy only insofar as they are expressions of reason.”

Reason Emotion Expression Healthy

Author:Allen W. Wood

“From the beginning, there has been a tension in the reception of the Kantian idea of autonomy. If you emphasize the 'nomos' (the law), then you get one picture: the objectivity of ethics. If you emphasize the 'autos' - the self - you get the idea that we make the law. Kant never hesitated in his choice between the two emphases. He emphasizes the nomos (the universal and objective validity of the law).”

Ifs Has Beens Two Ideas Self Law Choices Ethics Universal Objectives Tension Emphasis Autonomy Objectivity Validity Reception

Author:Allen W. Wood

“The relation of the law to the self is only a helpful way of thinking about the law, that helps us better understand its validity for us.”

Thinking Way Self Helping Law Relation Helpful Way Of Thinking Validity

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Kant says that we may regard ourselves as legislator of the moral law, and consider ourselves as its author, but not that we are legislators or authors of the law.”

May Law Moral Regard Legislators Moral Law

Author:Allen W. Wood