God and Morality: A Philosophical History

God and Morality evaluates the ethics of four principal philosophers Aristotle, Duns Scotus, Kant, and R. M. Hare placing an emphasis on the often circumvented relationship between their ethical theories and theism. While focusing on central concepts such as virtue, will, duty, and consequences, the author never loses sight of the larger context in which these views appear, presenting the work of these philosophers as keys to understanding the historical advancement of ethical thought during four great periods in Western philosophical history. This book defies traditional modes of comparison between these important philosophers by paying close attention not only to differences in their thought, but to significant and sometimes surprising similarities, taking seriously the role of God in their moral theories.

Introduction.

1. Aristotle.

The School of Athens.

The Protretpicus.

God and Nous in Nicomachean Ethics Book I.

The First Sentence of the Nicomachean Ethics.

Heading towards the Good.

Virtue.

Larry Arnhart.

2. Duns Scotus.

The Disputà.

Duns Scotus, Lectura.

The Two Affections of the Will.

Justice and God.

Scotus and Virtue.

Scotus and Particularity.

Jean–Paul Sartre.

3. Immanuel Kant.

The Time Between.

Kant, Lectures on Ethics (Collins).

The Groundwork.

The Critique of Practical Reason.

Religion.

Metaphysics of Morals.

Christine Korsgaard.

4. R. M. Hare.

The Time Between.

An Essay on Monism .

The Language of Morals.

Freedom and Reason.

Moral Thinking.

Peter Singer.

5. Combining the Theories.

The Goal of the Chapter.

Virtue Theory.

Command Theory.

Consequentialism.

Bibliography.

Index of Biblical References.

General Index

John E. Hare is Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. His books include The Moral Gap (1996), God′s Call (2001), and Why Bother Being Good? (2002). He has also written on Greek philosophy, international relations, Kant, evolutionary ethics, and biomedical ethics.

"This book is important. It offers a profound contribution rather than the last word on theism and ethics" Ethical Perspectives

This is a splendid history of philosophical ethics, with special interest in God s presence and importance in that perennial enterprise, by one of the leading philosophers of ethics writing today. Hare tops off this surprising, exciting, and unorthodox history with an account of his own that collects together the best features of the theistic ethics of the past. God and Morality is written with crystal clarity and impressive scholarship. Robert Roberts, Baylor University