Neo-aristotelian ethics

naturalistic or phenomenological

John Drummond

pp. 135-149

in: Jeffrey Bloechl, Nicolas de Warren (eds), Phenomenology in a new key, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

This paper distinguishes four senses of naturalism: (1) reductive physicalism; (2) a naturalism (Foot, Hursthouse) that departs from what Thompson calls "natural-historical judgments"; (3) a naturalism (McDowell) that recognizes that physical nature is located within the space of reasons; and (4) a phenomenological naturalism that shifts the focus to the "natural" experiences of subjects who encounter the world. The paper argues for a "phenomenological neo-Aristotelianism" that accounts both for the internal justification of our first-order moral experience and the need for a broader grounding in a universalistic account of the goods of agency.