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ERIC Number: EJ770812
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2003-Dec
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-7240
EISSN: N/A
William James's Moral Theory
Cooper, Wesley
Journal of Moral Education, v32 n4 p411-422 Dec 2003
James's moral theory, primarily as set out in "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life" (in his "The Will To Believe" (1897)), is presented here as having a two-level structure, an empirical or historical level where progress toward greater moral inclusiveness is central, and a metaphysical or end-of-history level--James's "kingdom of heaven"--characterised by universal agreement on moral content that is likely to be pluralistic, including deontological elements in a broadly consequentialist endeavour to attain the greatest good, by the lights of a variety of moral ideals. This consequentialism of ideals is significantly different from a straightforward consequentialism that aims to satisfy preferences. The pluralism of moral content is mirrored in the pluralism he suggests at the end of "The Varieties of Religious Experience" about gods. The various theisms will eventually make accommodations to each other in a greater whole, as a Science of Religion matures. The pluralistic pattern in ethics and religion gains strength from an analogy with pluralism in science.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A