Pragmatist Ethics

James Jakób Liszka is Senior Scholar at the Institute for Ethics in Public Life and Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He is the author of Charles Peirce on Ethics, Esthetics and the Normative Sciences; Moral Competence: An Integrated Approach to the Study of Ethics (second edition); A General Introduction to the Semeiotic of Charles Sanders Peirce; and The Semiotic of Myth: A Critical Study of the Symbol (Advances in Semiotics).

• AcknowledgmentsNotes on In-Text CitationsIntroduction1. What's the Good of Goodness?Plato's DoubtsJames's DoubtsThe Tragic Sense of LifeProblem-Based Ethics2. Pragmatism and the Roots of Problem-Based EthicsThe Pragmatic Maxim: Theory to PracticeTruth and Goodness ReconceivedCommunities of InquiryDemocracy as a Community of InquiryScientific Ethics and Experiments of LivingMeliorism: Convergence, Growth, Improvement, Progress3. Practical LifePracticesPractices as Solutions to ProblemsWhat Is a Problem?The Normative Character of PracticesThe Normative Governance of Practices4. Practical ReasoningThe Desire-Belief Model of Moral MotivationFrom Practical Reasoning to Practical KnowledgeProblems as Moral Guidance5. Normative ScienceThe General and the Particular in Practical KnowledgeKnow-How and Know-ThatPractical HypothesesNormative NaturalismThe Empirical Warrant for Prudential NormsThe Empirical Warrant for Good Ends and Righteous Means6. Communities of InquiryThe Ends and Means of InquiryThe Problem of EpistemarchyProblems and the Governance of Practices7. Change for the BetterProgress as Preference for Ways of LifeThe Cumulative Theory of ProgressProgress as a Function of Problem-Solving EffectivenessMoral ProgressHas There Been Progress?Generalizing Problem-Solving EffectivenessConclusionReferencesIndex