进化与伦理生活

by Philip Kitcher, 菲利普·基切尔, 钟世文 (Translator)

伦理遍布于人类社会和几乎所有人的生活。伦理学作为一种美丽的人类现象出现——永远未完成，一代又一代地集体精炼和扭曲。基切尔指出，我们的人类价值观不能被理解为一个最终的系统，而是一个项目——伦理项目——我们的物种在其历史的大部分时间里都在参与其中，这是我们自身的核心，也是占据我们五万年生活，使得人之所以成为人的事业。

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, History

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2011

About the author

Philip Kitcher is John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He was the first recipient of the American Philosophical Association's Prometheus Prize for his work to expand the frontiers of science and philosophy.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Kitcher takes a brilliant approach to ethics! I have approached ethics in a similar way in the past. My less intelligent-sounding version has been "we are social animals who are have to live together. So, we need to have some rules to live by." I appreciate Dr. Kitcher's approach to the naturalistic fallacy. He sees ethics as a sort of technology that humans developed due to their need to live together in small groups where "altruism-failures" sometimes occurred many years ago. This technology evolved as people's needs and desires changed after other human developments that allowed us to grow in population size, material prosperity and division of roles.

Ethics aren't some magical things existing in a special realm that we discovered. They also weren't handed down by a divine force. Nevertheless, they are crucial if you're a human. He argues that ethical progress can come in the form of not basing ethics on false beliefs (e.g. "a supernatural being or force said so"), being internally consistent and making changes that address the problem of altruism-failures. Ethical truths are tentative and perhaps contingent, but there are some ethical truths that probably apply in most situations for the foreseeable human future. People could maybe come up with an alternative in theory, but it is unlikely in certain cases. This is only problematic if people practice ethics the way they have been practiced for ages: looking for principles that are somehow completely absolute and looking for special authority somewhere or in someone.

[Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Ethical Project, Kitcher offers a plausible, defensible theory for a naturalistic origin of ethical systems and values.

Be warned: this text is aimed at professional philosophers and those well-versed in the theoretical debates. Many passages address what appear to be expected arguments from different perspectives, much of which will fly over the heads of the casual reader (among whom I class myself).

For an accessible summary of these ideas, I recommend Kitcher's Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism, chapter 2.

The Ethical Project is an important work, one I found strikingly thought-provoking, despite my difficulties accessing some of the arguments. Four stars.

[James Mcbain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a "I wish I had wrote this" books for me. Insightful is not saying enough.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. The kind of book that makes you think more clearly.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The ethical project evolves indefinitely. Progress is made not by discovering something independent of us and our societies, but by fulfilling the functions of ethics as they have so far emerged. The project is something people work out with one another. There are no experts here" (285-286). Kitcher's rendition of pragmatist ethics is ambitious, trying to reorient how we view ethics as an enterprise. But it is also humble, in that he constantly brings ethics and ethicists back to the problems that we encounter together with others. As a pragmatist, he is mistrustful of ethics that is seen as the expert's search for otherworldly rules (and the demand that all of us get in line or else...). Instead, he sees the ethical project as the ongoing practice of trying, failing and trying again to be together. The approach is methodical, identifying and questioning assumptions, piece by piece; but it has its creative moments too - much like John Dewey, whose influence runs through the whole work.

[Landon Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phillip Kitcher's "The Ethical Project" is essential reading for anybody who is interested in naturalistic ethics. While many naturalists turn to moral relativism, Kitcher offers a convincing alternative by grounding morality in a pragmatic project to promote altruism. By working from a pragmatic and naturalistic perspective, Kitcher cuts through unnecessary postulates commonly found in discussions about religion and ethics, like so-called "moral intuition" and "objective morality." Kitcher's pragmatic naturalism is grounded in the facts about human psychology and history, not abstract metaphysical speculation.

[Reuben HF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitcher tries to do a lot in this book - perhaps too much. While there are some fantastic ideas (mainly chapter 7) making the whole thing worthwhile, you have to wade through a lot of faff to get them.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each third of this book is really of work of its own. The first 2/3 are great; the last third is unfocused and not at all convincing. An necessary read for anyone working on contemporary metaethics.

[Soren Wenstop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Human morality down to its naturalistic nature; a continuous, never-ending process of co-evolution between forces of nature and nurture.