The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 1, 2007

Ethics

Mary Tjiattas
Pages 19-24

Against Moral Particularism

Advocates of particularism in moral philosophy (e.g. Prichard, Dancy, McDowell) hold that moral theory contributes little if anything to moral deliberation, claiming that we do best in moral judgement by relying on our intuitive moral sensitivities to situations rather than on general principles. In this paper I argue that particularism lacks the resources to provide a preferable account of moral deliberation and justification.