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Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (Paperback)

by J Mackie (Author) "To the south of the Bering Straight, the smooth ocean floor is covered by shallow water ..." (more)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (30 Aug 1990)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140135588
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140135589
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 131,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

An insight into moral skepticism of the 20th century. The author argues that our every-day moral codes are an 'error theory' based on the presumption of moral facts which, he persuasively argues, don't exist. His refutation of such facts is based on their metaphysical 'queerness' and the observation of cultural relativity.


About the Author

John Leslie Mackie (1917-1981) was a philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. A professor of philosophy at the universities of Sydney, Otago, New Zealand, and York, he was elected a fellow of the University of Oxford in 1967 and to the British Academy in 1974.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, 27 Dec 2006
By Robert van Someren Greve (Amsterdam, NL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This densely argued little book provides what is perhaps the most influential formulation of moral skepticism of the 20th century in the form of what Mackie calls an 'error theory' of moral judgment. Mackie asserts that there is a deep and pervasive error in ordinary moral thought, in that it postulates the existence of properties and entities which cannot be part of a sensible, scientific ontology. After an elaboration of his fundamental negative thesis, Mackie goes on to develop a proto-contractual account of morality that presumably can be affirmed without making the error that haunts ordinary moral thought and the philosophical tradition (although I must add that the second part of the book stands in a somewhat awkward relation to the first). Obligatory reading for anyone interested in the foundations of ethics.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, 10 April 2002
By Ben Saunders (Oxford) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Mackie is ever-provocative, just see his 'Miracle of Theism' for proof, and here he attacks morality. Our every-day moral codes, he argues, are an 'error theory' based on the presumption of moral facts which, he persuasively argues, don't exist. His refutation of such facts is based on their metaphysical 'queerness' and the observation of cultural relativity. I can't say whether he's 'right', but if you're interested in the objectivity (or otherwise) of moral standards, this is a recommended read.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A solid contribution to ethical thinking, 23 Jun 2009
I picked this book up in Waterstones as an adjunct to another book on professional ethics in my field (software engineering). Once I had started to read it I just kept going, ever more engaged, to the end.

Skepticism has its limits and wielded by less than agile minds can be a very blunt tool. Here, however, Mackie presents a convincing (at least to me) argument against the entire fabric of moral precepts by elucidating not so much their contradictions as their incoherence from a philosophical viewpoint.

Yet this is not a crude argument for moral relativism. Rather, Mackie simply argues that if moral precepts won't do, we need to replace them with something that will. To fill this gap he proposes an ethics based on individual rights and obligations. There is nothing new in this idea for it goes back to the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, Mackie offers it in a clear form without arbitrary prescriptions for the societies in which moral actors live. Thereby he avoids the absurdities propounded by various American thinkers (notably the psychotic-libertarian school represented by Nozick) and that is this book's great strength.

Mackie left me admiring him for having the guts not to be radical but simply to admit that practical ethics does not work unless it has the pragmatism to make frequent sanity checks upon itself.

For its plain words and good sense I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Warning - Not an enjoyable read!
Warning - not an enjoyable read.

Some of you will laugh and think that this point is completely obvious. But, this book is not an easy read. Neither is it an enjoyable read. Read more

Published on 26 Jan 2006

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what was expected but nonetheless and interesting read
I was expecting more of a dialectic from a scholar but instead received his account of various ethical ideas and their relation to his postulation that there is no objective... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2003 by chanceless

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