Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T01:35:08.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in Ethics

Moore's Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2020

William H. Shaw

Summary

This Element critically surveys the full range of G. E. Moore's ethical thought, including: (1) his rejection of naturalism in favor of the view that 'good' designates a simple, indefinable property, which cannot be identified with or reduced to any other property; (2) his understanding of intrinsic value, his doctrine of organic wholes, his repudiation of hedonism, and his substantive account of the most important goods and evils; and (3) his critique of egoism and subjectivism and his elaboration of a non-hedonistic variant of utilitarianism that, among other things, creatively blends aspects of act- and rule-oriented versions of that theory.
Get access

Keywords

Moorenonnaturalismintrinsic valueorganic wholesutilitarianism
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Ethics
Online ISBN: 9781108581295
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 24 September 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrić, V. (2013). Objective consequentialism and the licensing dilemma. Philosophical Studies, 162(3), 547–66.Google Scholar
Ayer, A. J. (1982). Philosophy in the Twentieth Century, London: Unwin.Google Scholar
Baldwin, T. (1988). Review of Tom Regan, Bloomsbury’s prophet, and G. E. Moore, The early essays. Mind, 97(385), 129–33.Google Scholar
Baldwin, T. (1990). G. E. Moore, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Baldwin, T. (1993). Editor’s introduction. In Principia Ethica, rev. ed., ed. Baldwin, T.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.ix–xxxvii.Google Scholar
Darwall, S. (1989). Moore to Stevenson. In Cavalier, R., Gouinlock, J. S., and Sterba, J. P., eds., Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 366–98.Google Scholar
Darwall, S. (2006). How should ethics relate to (the rest of) philosophy? Moore’s legacy. In Horgan, T. and Timmons, M., eds., Metaethics after Moore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 17–37.Google Scholar
Ewing, A. C. (1961). G. E. Moore. Mind, 71(282), 251.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. (1979). Rule utilitarianism and cumulative-effect utilitarianism. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, suppl. vol. 5, 21–45.Google Scholar
Horgan, T., and Timmons, M., eds. (2006). Metaethics after Moore, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, S. (1989). The Limits of Morality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. L. (1976). Sidgwick’s pessimism. Philosophical Quarterly, 16(104), 317–27.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. L. (1977). Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Mill, J. S. (1969). Collected Works, vol. X, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Miller, R. B. (2009). Actual rule utilitarianism. Journal of Philosophy, 106 (1), 5–28.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1903a). Mr. McTaggart’s ethics. International Journal of Ethics (now Ethics), 13(3), 341–70.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1903b). Review of Franz Brentano, The origin of the knowledge of right and wrong. International Journal of Ethics (now Ethics), 14(1), 115–23.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1907–8). Review of Hastings Rashdall, The theory of good and evil. Hibbert Journal, 6(2), 446–51.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1952). A reply to my critics. In Schilpp, P. A., ed., The Philosophy of G. E. Moore, 2nd ed., New York: Tudor, pp. 535–687.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1962 [1932]). Is goodness a quality? Reprinted in Moore, G. E., Philosophical Papers. New York: Collier, pp. 89–100.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1991). The Elements of Ethics, ed. Regan, T., Philadelphia: Temple University Press. This a series of pre-Principia lectures, unpublished in Moore’s lifetime.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1993a [1922]). The conception of intrinsic value. Reprinted in Moore, G. E., Principia Ethica, rev. ed., ed. Baldwin, T.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 280–98.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1993b [1903]). Principia Ethica, rev. ed., ed. Baldwin, T., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (2005a [1912]). Ethics, ed. Shaw, W. H., Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (2005b [1922]). The nature of moral philosophy. Reprinted in Moore, G. E., Ethics, ed. W. H. Shaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 135–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parfit, D. (2011–7). On What Matters, 3 vols., Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rashdall, H. (1924). The Theory of Good and Evil: A Treatise on Moral Philosophy, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Regan, D. H. (2003). How to be a Moorean. Ethics 113(3), 651–77.Google Scholar
Ross, W. D. (1930). The Right and the Good, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Russell, B. (1904). The meaning of good. Independent Review, 2(8), 328–33.Google Scholar
Russell, B. (1910). Philosophical Essays, London: Longmans, Green, & Co.Google Scholar
Shaw, W. H. (1995). Moore on Right and Wrong: The Normative Ethics of G. E. Moore, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Shaw, W. H. (1999). Contemporary Ethics: Taking Account of Utilitarianism, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sidgwick, H. (1966 [1907]). The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed., New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Smart, J. J. C. (1973). An outline of a system of utilitarian ethics. In Smart, J. J. C. and Williams, B., Utilitarianism: For and Against. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–74.Google Scholar
Smith, M. (2006). Moore on the right, the good, and uncertainty. In Horgan, T. and Timmons, M., eds., Metaethics after Moore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 133–48.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C. (1952). Moore’s argument against certain forms of ethical naturalism. In Schilpp, P. A., ed., The Philosophy of G. E. Moore, 2nd ed., New York: Tudor, pp. 71–90.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J. (2001). Goodness and Advice, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
White, A. R. (1969). G. E. Moore: A Critical Exposition, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. (2008). Living with Uncertainty: The Moral Significance of Ignorance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Moore's Ethics
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Moore's Ethics
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Moore's Ethics
Available formats
×