- Hardcover: 216 pages
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd Edition edition (10 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0333751825
- ISBN-13: 978-0333751824
- Product Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.1 x 2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,074,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This book explores the central issues of moral philosophy with a view to giving an account of the relation between religious belief and ethics. It examines the definition of morality and defends the idea that there is something called moral knowledge that all human being possess. It grounds moral knowledge in conscience as rooted in our experience of making choice and of the moral structure of human relationships. It examines the moral structure of human action. Central chapters are devoted to the three major forms of moral theory current in contemporary philosophy. Each theory is related to a morally relevant facet of action. A virtues-based theory of the good and the right is defended as giving the best overall account of the structure of moral knowledge. Two final chapters apply this theory to the intellectual problems of secular and religious ethics respectively. This second edition includes a new section on feminist moral theory, together with a new preface and bibliography.
About the Author
PETER BYRNE is Professor of Philosophy of Religion at King's College, London. He co-edits the journal Religious Studies. He has edited a series of books in medical ethics and is co-editor (with Leslie Houlden) of A Companion Encyclopedia of Theology. He is the author of Natural Religion and the Nature of Religion, The Philosophical and Theological Foundations of Ethics and (with Peter B. Clarke) Religion Defined and Explained.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Excellent overview of relationship between religion & ethics
20 May 2000
Format:Paperback
Peter Byrne is the editor of the prestigious journal RELIGIOUS STUDIES. His book, THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS, is simply an outstanding introductory text on the relationship between religion and morality. I have learned much from this book, and I highly recommend it to others.
As an atheist, I was particularly interested in Byrne's chapter on "Morality without Religion." Byrne considers a number of issues related to this subject, including: (i) naturalistic ethics, motivation, and evil; and (ii) the metaphysics and epistemology of secular ethics. Concerning (i), Byrne considers "the objection to secular ethics ... that it can offer the individual who respects morality no guarantee of anything other than a life of disappointment and self-sacrifice." However, he notes that the secular moralist can offer three points to mitigate this objection. First, virtuous living remains a partial good even if it exists in isolation from the ideal whole. Second, the social dimension of morality shows that the best chance for attaining the complete good will be in a morally ordered community where moral rules are well-respected. Third, concern for moral considerations is not wholly derived from desire to attain an ultimate good. Byrne concludes, "We can see from this discussion of moral motivation that what is and is not a proper and sufficient motive for moral action is a complex matter--much more complex than neat proofs of the unsatisfactoriness of this or that moral outlook allow."
As for (ii), Byrne considers arguments which attempt to show that if we are doubtful of theism, we must be doubtful of the truth of moral principles. Here Byrne notes that if the secular moralist is allowed use of the notions of truth and reason in general, then objections about the source and nature of secular morality collapse. (Byrne lists personal choice, social custom, and evolution as examples of sources of secular moral standards.) He writes, "So long as the secular thinker can point to good reasons which back a judgement such as 'Do not steal', the question of whence this moral standard arises is of no more philosophical interest than the question 'Where do the principles of arithmetic come from?'"
The book is written at an intermediate level, so that it is useful to scholars and students alike. I highly recommend it.
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