Moral Realism: A Defence

Moral Realism: A Defence presents a philosophical argument supporting the existence of objective moral truths. Philosopher Russ Shafer-Landau challenges contemporary skepticism about moral facts and builds a case for moral realism through systematic analysis. The book addresses core questions in meta-ethics: whether moral facts exist independently of what people believe, and whether moral properties are real features of the world. Shafer-Landau examines competing views like moral relativism and expressivism while constructing his defense of moral realism. Through careful philosophical reasoning, the text tackles major objections to moral realism including questions about moral motivation, moral knowledge, and the relationship between moral facts and natural facts. The arguments draw on both historical philosophical work and contemporary ethical theory. This work represents an important contribution to ongoing debates about the foundations of ethics and morality. The book explores fundamental questions about the nature of right and wrong, and whether moral truths can be as real and objective as scientific or mathematical truths.

Readers emphasize the book's clear arguments for moral realism and systematic rebuttal of anti-realist positions. Philosophy students and academics note it serves as a thorough introduction to contemporary moral realism debates. Liked: - Clear writing style and structured arguments - In-depth responses to relativist and expressivist views - Useful chapter summaries and real-world examples Disliked: - Dense technical language in later chapters - Some readers found the metaethical arguments repetitive - Limited discussion of competing realist views Ratings: Goodreads: 4.11/5 (37 ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (11 reviews) Notable review quotes: "Best contemporary defense of moral realism I've read" - Goodreads reviewer "Clear but requires serious philosophical background" - Amazon reviewer "Strong on anti-realist critiques but weaker on positive arguments" - PhilPapers review The book receives stronger ratings from academic readers compared to general philosophy enthusiasts.

The Normative Web by Terence Cuneo This work defends moral realism by arguing that epistemic facts and moral facts are fundamentally alike, making it difficult to be a moral anti-realist while maintaining realism about epistemic norms.

Taking Morality Seriously by David Enoch The text presents a systematic defense of robust metanormative realism through arguments about deliberative indispensability and the objectivity of moral truth.

Value, Reality, and Desire by Graham Oddie This book develops an axiological realist position by connecting value theory to metaphysics through an examination of the relationship between desires and evaluative facts.

Natural Law and Natural Rights by John Finnis The work establishes a framework for ethical objectivity through a detailed philosophical reconstruction of natural law theory and its relationship to practical reasoning.

Ethics Without Ontology by Hilary Putnam This text defends the objectivity of ethics without relying on metaphysical assumptions about moral facts, offering an alternative approach to moral realism that focuses on practical rationality.

🔹 The book sparked significant debate when published in 2003, becoming one of the most influential contemporary defenses of moral realism in philosophical literature 🔹 Russ Shafer-Landau serves as director of the Parr Center for Ethics at UNC-Chapel Hill and has edited the widely-used textbook "The Fundamentals of Ethics," now in its 5th edition 🔹 The concept of moral realism dates back to Plato's Theory of Forms, which proposed that moral truths exist in an abstract realm independent of human minds 🔹 The book directly challenges the dominant view in 20th-century philosophy that moral statements are merely expressions of emotions or attitudes rather than objective facts 🔹 Unlike many philosophical works on ethics, Shafer-Landau explicitly argues against the common view that moral properties must be reducible to natural properties that science can study