how
S k e p t i c s
do
E t h i c s
Aubrey Neal
A Brief History of the Late Modern Linguistic Turn
www.uofcpress.com
978-1-55238-202-8
NEAL
how S k e p t i c s do E t h i c s
Enlightenment philosophers are often credited with
formulating challenging theories about humankind and
society, and in our postmodern age, we still live with
some of the very same compelling, contentious, and
often unresolved questions they posed. Author Aubrey
Neal suggests that one such issue that still lingers
today is skepticism, and in How Skeptics do Ethics, he
unravels the thread of this philosophy from its origins
in enlightenment thinking down to our present age.
Neal contends that in our increasingly complicated
world we face unique moral challenges, and that
modern ethics has not kept pace with modern life.
The traditional language of moral introspection does
not translate adequately into such contexts as politics,
public service, and the global economy. Referencing
such luminary thinkers as Hume, Kant, Hegel, and
Wittgenstein, Neal seeks to re-ignite age-old questions
and challenge the meaning of traditional philosophical
debates and their value for our society today.
AUBREY NEAL earned his Ph.D. from the University
of Manitoba, where he currently teaches at St. Paul’s
College in the Department of History.
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
www.uofcpress.com
www.accesscopyright.ca
CONTENTS
One 19 HUME’S PREDICAMENT
Two 65 HEGEL’S PREDICAMENT
Three 113 THE LINGUISTIC TURN
Four 153 THE MODERN PREDICAMENT
Five 209 POSTMODERNISM
For Joan
e normal wrongly assimilates us.
INTRODUCTION
I am a very conservative person.… e constancy
of God in my life is called by other names.
ABOUT TWENTY YEARS AGO,
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
e Gay Science
Introduction
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
ad hoc
Introduction
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
Introduction
and
unconscious
Critique of Pure Reason
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
e synthetic process of empirical reflection
is hidden from usIt does not belong to the conscious mind
a priori
of that category
World
Critique of Pure Reason
Introduction
Synthesis
pragma-
tism
pragmata
Mind and the World Order
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
principled
Introduction
low standards
reference
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
not
Introduction
e
Words
Being and Nothingness
But the idea
of God is contradictory
Nausée
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS
Nausée
Introduction
HOW SKEPTICS DO ETHICS