The Moral Philosophy of W. D. Ross Metaethics, Normative Ethics, Virtue, and Value

This volume not only explores Ross's moral philosophy and ethical theories, but also his aesthetics, intuitionist epistemology, metaphysics, and applied ethics. W. D. Ross is a major figure in the history of moral philosophy and his work has been increasingly discussed since the 1990s. He provided the first sustained articulation and defence of a new moral theory: a moderate deontology embodying a pluralistic theory of the right built around his most famous innovation, the concept of prima facie duty. His theory of the good is also pluralistic and, particularly in incorporating moral goodness, can be fruitfully contrasted both with Sidgwick's hedonism and Moore's value pluralism. Ross is an exemplar of clear moral reflection, a defender of the irreducible plurality of common-sense moral standards, a powerful opponent of absolute certainty in moral matters, and an insightful critic of utilitarianism. As a great Aristotelian scholar with a mastery of Aristotle's virtue ethics, he is able to clarify how practical wisdom informs moral deliberation and to portray, in illuminating detail, both virtue and virtuous action as paradigms of intrinsic value.

1 - Introduction
2 - Duty, Moral Knowledge, and Intrinsic Value in Rossian Intuitionism
3 - The Prima Facie/Overall Duty Distinction: What is it? Where did it come from? Why does it matter?
4 - Ross and the Foundations of Morality
5 - The Ethical Theory of W. D. Ross
6 - Can Sidgwick and Ross Converge in Moral Theory?
7 - Prima Facie Duties, Real-World Contexts and Moral Emotions
8 - Ross's Explanatory Resources
9 - Ross and the Problem of Permissibility
10 - Ross On Virtue and Vice
11 - Ross and the Ethics of Virtue
12 - Ross and Aesthetic Value
13 - On the Value of Intellectual and Aesthetic Activity: A Reply to Ross
14 - Heterarchy and Hierarchy in Ross's Theories of the Right and the Good

Robert Audi writes, lectures, and teaches in ethics and political philosophy, epistemology, and action theory. He has published books and papers in these and other areas. His OUP books include The Architecture of Reason (2001), Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State (2011), Rationality and Religious Commitment (2011), Means, Ends, and Persons (2015), and Rational Belief (2015). He is a past president of the American Philosophical Association, Editor-in-Chief of The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (1995, 1999, and 2015), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. David Phillips is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Houston. He specializes in ethics; his research interests are primarily in the history of ethics, with a particular focus on British moral philosophers. He is the author of three books, all published by OUP: Sidgwick's The Methods of Ethics: A Guide (2022), Rossian Ethics: W.D. Ross and Contemporary Moral Theory (2019), and Sidgwickian Ethics (2011).