Home / Quotes / Quote by Catherine Wilson

Quote by Catherine Wilson

“There's Hobbes, who understood in the 1640s that the sovereign is not an appointee of God, or even a figure of superior virtue and wisdom, but just a functional device whose role is to keep people from hurting and killing each other.”

Quote by Catherine Wilson

Author

Catherine Wilson

Catherine Wilson, who passed away on October 20, 1862, is a figure from history. Her specific occupation and category are unknown. Details about her life and contributions are limited. more

You May Also Like

“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.”

Philosophy Christian Individual Bits Moral Virtue Divine Theory Source Authority Ancient Reactions Command Sentiments Secular Medieval Pagan Interpersonal Hume Christian 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

People Kind Earth Term Moral Economic Century Particular Truth Is Argument Decided Philosophical Slavery Slave Witness Investigation Metaphysical Testimony Theoretical Pros And Cons

Author:Catherine Wilson

“Maybe we will get to this point and reach a decision one way or the other with 'Human cloning is acceptable,' but I doubt that it is ever going to happen for 'It is morally permissible to eat shrimp' or with the general formula 'Adultery is wrong,' whose intended extension is again very unclear.”

Way Humans Happens Decision Doubt One Way Formulas Acceptable Extensions Adultery Unclear Cloning Shrimp Human Cloning

Author:Catherine Wilson

“Moral claims aren't, as a class, truth-value apt or not.”

Values Moral Class Claims

Author:Catherine Wilson

“You can reasonably make the intellectual journey from thinking it's permissible to eat shrimp to thinking it's not permissible, or vice versa, whereas our slavery journey was uni-directional. We are as certain we are not going back to that old kind of slavery as we are that we aren't going back to the geocentric universe.”

Thinking Kind Certain Universe Journey Intellectual Slavery Vices Vice Versa Shrimp

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.”

Interest Moral Advantage Expenses Reducing

Author:Catherine Wilson

“Morality has in the past made progress when we broadened the category of things we weren't permitted to harm (animals, 'infidels'); saw through some delusions and rationalisations about what harms are good for people themselves (prison punishment, hysterectomies for unhappy 1950s wives); and readjusted our for-the-good of others criteria so as to demand only reasonable sacrifices (ceasing to use children as handy chimney sweeps).”

“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.”

Way Firsts Persons Facts Causes Process Moral Progress Benefits Tests Harm Narrative Formulas Distribution Martyr Evaluate Involving First Person Scientific Truth

Author:Catherine Wilson