| What is morality’s scope? Should all our actions be evaluated morally? Is it necessary to be causally responsible for harm to have a responsibility to reduce it? Is there a morally relevant distinction between those consequences of our actions which we intend or do and those which we foresee but do not intend or allow but do not do? Is helping others a matter of supererogation (i.e. beyond the call of moral duty) or a matter of obligation? These are crucial questions that need to be debated in normative and applied ethics. However, they were not raised seriously and independently until the last decades of the 20th century. There are several answers to these questions. This paper defends the answers of an approach which is called “moderate morality.” So, at first, it defines “moderate morality,” and pays heed to the views of its opponents, including Peter Singer, Shelly Kagan, and Peter Unger. Then, it tries to defend “moderate morality” based on “interest-based contractarianism.” Finally, it examines “its result in applied ethics” and tries to find a reasonable answer to a crucial question in the “political ethics of international relations” in our globalized era: What moral obligation, if any, do we have individually and as a society toward the people whose basic human rights are being violated not only in our country but also all over the world? |
- Ashford, E. and Mulgan, T. (2012). "Contractualism." in Edward N. Zalta (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition).(Open Document, URL= http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/ fall2012/entries/contractualism/>, Accessed August 2, 2012.)
- Baltzly, V. B. (2001). Contractarianism and ''Moderate Morality.'' (Master''s Thesis). Retrieved from Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archive. (Open Document, URL= <http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/ available/etd-07142001-91919/unrestricted/BryanThesis.PDF>, Accessed August 2, 2012.)
- Cudd, A. (2012). "Contractarianism." in Edward N. Zalta (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition). (Open Document, URL= <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/ entries/contractarianism/>, Accessed August 2, 2012.)
- Freeman, S. (1998). "Contractarianism." in Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. CD ROM. Version 1.0. London: Routledge.
- Freeman, S. (2006). "Moral Contractarianism as a Foundation for Interpersonal Morality." in James Dreier (ed.). Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. 57-76.
- Freeman, S. (2007). Rawls. London: Routledge.
- Gauthier, D. (1986). Morals by Agreement. New York: Clarendon Press.
- Gauthier, D. (2007). "Foreword." in Daniel Farnham (ed.). The Intrinsic Worth of Persons: Contractarianism in Moral and Political Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ix-xiii.
- Hampton, J. (2007). "Feminist Contractarianism." in Daniel Farnham (ed.). The Intrinsic Worth of Persons: Contractarianism in Moral and Political Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-38.
- Hardin, R. (1988). "Rational Choice Theory." in Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. CD ROM. Version 1.0. London: Routledge.
- Hobbes, T. (1986/1649). Leviathan. C. B. MacPherson (ed.). Baltimore: Penguin.
- Hornby, N. (2001). How to be Good. New York: Viking.
- Kagan, S. (1989). The Limits of Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kuhn, S. (2007). "Prisoner''s Dilemma." in Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Open Document,
- URL= <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/prisoner-dilemma>, Accessed August 2, 2016.
- LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Livingston, I., Doyle, J. and Mangan, D. (2010). "Stabbed Hero Dies as More than 20 People Stroll Past Him." in New York Post.(Open Document, URL=<http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/passers_by_let_ good_sam_die_5SGkf5XDP5ooudVuEd8fbI>, Accessed January 2, 2011)
- Pfluegl, M. "Book Review: How to Be Good." (Open Document,
- URL= http://manfred.pfluegl.at/Philosophize with Manfred/How To Be Good_Nick Hornby_030601.htm>, Accessed January 2, 2011)
- Rachels, J. Active and Passive Euthanasia. In: B. Steinbock and A. Norcross (eds.). Killing and Letting Die. New York: Fordham University Press. 1975, pp. 112-19.
- Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Rawls, J. (2007). "Hobbes''s Secular Moralism and the Role of His Social Contract." in Samuel Freeman (ed.). Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 23-40.
- Sayre-McCord, G. (2000). "Contractarianism." in Hugh LaFollette (ed.). The Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. 247-67.
- Scanlon, T. M. (1982). "Contractualism and Utilitarianism." in Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams (eds.). Utilitarianism and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 103-28.
- Scanlon, T. M. (1998). What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
- Sengputa, A. (2005). "On the Theory and Practice of the Right to Development." in Arjun Sengupta, Archna Negi, and Moushumi Basu (eds.). Reflections on the Right to Development. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Singer, P. (2007/1972). "Famine, Affluence and Morality." in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.). Ethical Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Smith, P. (2008). Moral and Political Philosophy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Unger, P. (1996). Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Vallentyne, P. (1999). "Contractualism." in Christopher Gray (ed.). The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. 159-61.
|
