Contemporary Metaethics
An Introduction
2. Edition April 2013
320 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
This new edition of Alexander Miller's highly readable
introduction to contemporary metaethics provides a critical
overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth- and
twenty-first-century contemporary metaethics. Miller traces the
development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their
beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent
arguments between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and
non-cognitivism.
From Moore's attack on ethical naturalism, A. J. Ayer's
emotivism and Simon Blackburn's quasi-realism to anti-realist
and best opinion accounts of moral truth and the non-reductionist
naturalism of the 'Cornell realists', this book
addresses all the key theories and ideas in this field. As well as
revisiting the whole terrain with revised and updated guides to
further reading, Miller also introduces major new sections on the
revolutionary fictionalism of Richard Joyce and the hermeneutic
fictionalism of Mark Kalderon.
The new edition will continue to be essential reading for students,
teachers and professional philosophers with an interest in
contemporary metaethics.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Moore's Attack on Ethical Naturalism
Chapter 3 Emotivism and the Rejection of Non-Naturalism
Chapter 4 Blackburn's Quasi-Realism
Chapter 5 Gibbard's Norm-Expressivism
Chapter 6 Mackie's 'Error-theory', The Argument From Queerness and Moral Fictionalism
Chapter 7 Judgement-Dependent Accounts of Moral Qualities
Chapter 8 Naturalism I - Cornell Realism
Chapter 9 Naturalism II - Reductionism
Chapter 10 Contemporary Non-Naturalism - McDowell's Moral Realism
Appendix: Sense, Reference, Semantic Value, and Truth-Conditions
Bibliography
guide - essential reading for any moral philosopher who wants to be
taken seriously."
Morning Star
"This remains the indispensable guide to the subject for advanced
undergraduates, graduate students, and philosophers wanting to get
'up to speed' on the issues."
Brian Leiter, University of Chicago
"For many years, the first edition of Alex Miller's An
Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics has been the primary
text for my course on metaethics. No text that I know of introduces
students so thoroughly to the central theories, distinctions and
arguments. The second edition fills in the additional background
now needed. In particular, the expansion of the chapter on error
theories is particularly welcome."
Nadeem Hussain, Stanford University
"Given its breadth, thoroughness, and originality, Miller's An
Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics is compulsory reading
for everyone interested in metaethics. The updated material of this
second edition guarantees that there will soon exist a second
generation of metaethicists for whom reading this book is a
formative experience."
Jussi Suikkanen, University of Birmingham
Acclaim for the first edition:
"An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics provides for the
first time a critical survey of famous figures in 20th Century
metaethics together with in-depth discussions of contemporary
philosophers and will be an invaluable resource for students,
teachers and professional philosophers with interests in
contemporary metaethics."
Philosophical Inquiry
"His discussion is always succinct, rigorous and lucid. The book
will be very useful to upper-division undergraduates."
Choice Magazine
"A precise and accessible reading of a rather complicated
subject."
Syzetesis
"In this book Alexander Miller, an established expert in moral
philosophy, provides a concise, clear and insightful account of the
central issues of metaethics. He manages to make these difficult
issues accessible to those who are new to this area of philosophy,
while offering original contributions to the debates that will be
of interest to experts in the field. This is an engaging and
accomplished introductory work."
Philip Stratton-Lake, University of Reading
"Miller's book is ambitious, lucid, and comprehensive
- an extremely useful and detailed study of the field. I wish
it had been available when I taught my graduate seminar in moral
realism, for it would have made an excellent reference work
throughout the course - both for its clear exposition and its
rigorous critical perspectives. I recommend it to all serious
students of metaethics."
John Corvino, Wayne State University
