Abstract
I aim to show that (i) thereare good ways to argue about what has intrinsicvalue; and (ii) good ethical arguments needn’tmake ethical assumptions. I support (i) and(ii) by rebutting direct attacks, by discussingnine plausible ways to argue about intrinsicvalue, and by arguing for pain’s intrinsicbadness without making ethical assumptions. If(i) and (ii) are correct, then ethical theoryhas more resources than many philosophers havethought: empirical evidence, and evidencebearing on intrinsic value. With moreresources, we can hope to base all of our moralbeliefs on evidence rather than on, say,emotion or mere intuition.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aristotle: The Nicomachean Ethics translated by David Ross; revised by J.L. Ackrill and J.O. Urmson. Oxford University Press, 1980; originally long ago.
Audi, R. (1996): ‘Intuitionism, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Ethics’, in W. Sinnott-Armstrong and M. Timmons (eds.), Moral Knowledge? Oxford University Press, reprinted in Audi 1997.
Audi, R. (1997): Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character, Oxford University Press.
Baier, K. (1958): The Moral Point of View, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Beardsley, M. (1965): ‘Intrinsic Value’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 26, 1–17.
Bennett, J. (1995): The Act Itself, Oxford University Press.
Bernstein, M. (1999): ‘Intrinsic Value’, presented to the American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting. New Orleans; draft.
Bond, E.J. (1983): Reason and Value, Cambridge University Press.
Bond, E.J. (1996): Ethics and Human Well-being, Oxford: Blackwell.
Brandt, R. (1963): Value and Obligation, New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World.
Brandt, R. (1979): A Theory of the Good and the Right, Oxford University Press.
Brandt, R. (1996): ‘Science as a Basis for Moral Theory’, in W. Sinnott-Armstrong and M. Timmons (eds.), Moral Knowledge? Oxford University Press.
Brink, D.O. (1989): Moral Realism and the Foundations of Ethics, Cambridge University Press.
Chisholm, R.M. (1972): ‘Objectives and Intrinsic Value’, R. Haller (ed.), Jenseits von Sein und Nichtsein, Graz: Akademisches Druck, pp. 261–270.
Chisholm, R.M. (1981): ‘Defining Intrinsic Value’, Analysis 41(2) (March), 99–100.
Chisholm, R.M. (1986): Brentano and Intrinsic Value, Cambridge University Press.
Churchland, P.M. (1984): Matter and Consciousness, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1984; revised edition 1988.
Churchland, P.M. (1989): A Neurocomputational Perspective, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Crisp, R. (1999): ‘Teachers in an Age of Transition: Peter Singer and J. S. Mill’, in Dale Jamieson (ed.), Singer and His Critics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 85–102.
de Sousa, R. (1980): ‘Arguments from Nature’, Zygon 15 (June), 169–191, reprinted in Morality, Reason and Truth, in David Copp and David Zimmerman (eds.) U.S.A.: Rowman & Allanheld, 1985, pp. 169–190.
Diogenes Laertius: ‘The Life of Epicurus’, in Whitney J. Oates (ed.), The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, New York: Random House, 1940; originally long ago, pp. 53–64.
Donagan, A. (1977): The Theory of Morality, University of Chicago Press.
Dworkin, R. (1996): ‘Objectivity and Truth: You’d Better Believe It’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 25(2) (Spring), 87–139.
Edwards, R.B. (1979): Pleasures and Pains, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Feldman, F. (1997): ‘On the Intrinsic Value of Pleasures’, Ethics 107 (April), 448–466.
Feldman, F. (1998): ‘Hyperventilating About Intrinsic Value’, The Journal of Ethics 2, 339–354.
Gallie, W.B. (1954): ‘Pleasure’, The Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume XXVIII, 147–164.
Gauthier, D. (1986): Morals By Agreement, Oxford University Press.
Gewirth, A. (1978): Reason and Morality, The University of Chicago Press.
Hall, R.J. (1989): ‘Are Pains Necessarily Unpleasant?’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research XLIX(4) (June), 643–659.
Hare, R.M. (1973): ‘Rawls’ Theory of Justice – I’, Philosophical Quarterly 23(90) (January), 144–155 and ‘Rawls’ Theory of Justice – II’, Philosophical Quarterly 23(92) (July), 241–252, reprinted with revisions in Essays in Ethical Theory, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 145–174.
Hare, R.M. (1981): Moral Thinking, Oxford University Press.
Harman, G. (2000): Explaining Value and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy, Oxford University Press.
Hume, D. (1739): Treatise of Human Nature, Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1992, originally 1739.
Hume, D. (1751): An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, U.S.A.: Hackett Publishing Company, 1983, originally 1751.
James, W. (1897): ‘The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life’, in The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Johnston, M. (1997): ‘Human ConcernsWithout Superlative Selves’, in Jonathan Dancy (ed.), Reading Parfit, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 149–179.
Kagan, S. (1989): The Limits of Morality, Oxford University Press.
Kagan, S. (1998): ‘Rethinking Intrinsic Value’, The Journal of Ethics 2, 277–297.
Korsgaard, C.M. (1996a): The Sources of Normativity, Cambridge University Press.
Korsgaard, C.M. (1996b): Creating the Kingdom of Ends, Cambridge University Press.
Lemos, N. (1994): Intrinsic Value, Cambridge University Press.
Lewis, C.I. (1946): An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation, La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company.
Lewis, D. (1983): ‘Extrinsic Properties’, Philosophical Studies 44, 197–200.
Lewis, D. (1989): ‘Dispositional Theories of Value – II’, The Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume LXIII, 113–137.
Lockwood, M. (1997): ‘Hare on Potentiality: A Rejoinder’, in N. Fotion and Jan C. Heller (eds.), Contingent Future Persons, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 19–26.
McDowell, J. (1994): Mind and World, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mill, J.S. (1859): On Liberty (any printing).
Mill, J.S. (1861): Utilitarianism (any printing).
Moore, G.E. (1903): Principia Ethica, Cambridge University Press.
Moore, G.E. (1922): ‘The Conception of Intrinsic Value’, in his Philosophical Studies, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1960; originally 1922, pp. 253–275.
Nagel, T. (1986): The View From Nowhere, Oxford University Press.
Nagel, T. (1997): The Last Word, Oxford University Press.
Narveson, J. (1967): Morality and Utility, Baltimore: the Johns Hopkins Press.
Nelkin, N. (1994): ‘Reconsidering Pain’, Philosophical Psychology 7(3), 325–343.
Nietzsche, F. (1886): Beyond Good and Evil (any translation).
Nietzsche, F. (1887): On the Genealogy of Morals (any translation).
Nozick, R. (1981): Philosophical Explanations, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
O'Neill, J. (1992): ‘The Varieties of Intrinsic Value’, The Monist 75(2) April, 119–137.
Parfit, D. (1984): Reasons and Persons, Oxford University Press.
Rachels, J. (1986): The End of Life, Oxford University Press.
Rachels, J. (2003): The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 4th ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Rachels, S. (2000): ‘Is Unpleasantness Intrinsic to Unpleasant Experiences?’ Philosophical Studies 99(2) May (II), 187–210.
Railton, P. (1989): ‘Naturalism and Prescriptivity’, Social Philosophy & Policy 7(1), 151–174.
Rawls, J. (1951): ‘Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics’, The Philosophical Review (60), 177–197.
Rawls, J. (1971): A Theory of Justice, Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press.
Ross, W.D. (1930): The Right and the Good, Oxford University Press.
Sher, G. (1987): Desert, Princeton University Press.
Sidgwick, H. (1906): The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed., Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1906; repr. 1981.
Singer, M. (1961): Generalization in Ethics, New York: Atheneum.
Singer, P. (1999): ‘A Response’, in Dale Jamieson (ed.), Singer and His Critics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 269–335.
Smart, J.J.C. (1973): ‘An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics’, Utilitarianism for and against (with BernardWilliams), Cambridge University Press.
Smith, M. (1999): ‘Search for the Source’, The Philosophical Quarterly 49(196) (July), 384–394.
Stich, S.P. (1990): The Fragmentation of Reason, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Tannsjo, T. (1998): Hedonist Utilitarianism, Edinburgh University Press.
Timmons,M. (1987): ‘Foundationalismand the Structure of Ethical Justification’, Ethics 97 (April), 595–609.
Weatherson, B. (updated periodically): ‘Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Properties’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intrinsicextrinsic/).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rachels, S. A Defense of Two Optimistic Claims in Ethical Theory. Philosophical Studies 112, 1–30 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022558420553
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022558420553