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Ethics under moral neutrality
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Ethics under moral neutrality
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Williams
NamePart
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Evan Gregg
NamePart
(type = date)
1983-
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Evan Williams
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author
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Temkin
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Larry S.
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Larry S. Temkin
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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Parfit
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Derek
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Derek Parfit
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Smith
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Holly M.
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Holly M. Smith
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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McMahan
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Jeff
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Jeff McMahan
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Railton
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Peter A.
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Peter A. Railton
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Advisory Committee
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outside member
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Rutgers University
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(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
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Graduate School - New Brunswick
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school
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Text
Genre
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
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2011
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2011-05
Place
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xx
Language
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eng
Subject
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Topic
Philosophy
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD_3239
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electronic resource
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Extent
v, 256 p.
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Evan Gregg Williams
Abstract
(type = abstract)
How should we act when uncertain about the moral truth, or when trying to remain neutral between competing moral theories? This dissertation argues that some types of actions and policies are relatively likely to be approved by a very wide range of moral theories—even theories which have never yet been formulated, or which appear to cancel out one another's advice. For example, I argue that actions and policies which increase a moral agent's access to primary goods also tend to increase that agent's
likelihood of bringing about good consequences, even under varying and mutually incompatible hypotheses about what consequences count as "good". We therefore have a subjective, pro tanto moral reason to perform such actions and enact such policies—one
whose justification does not require treating any particular theory as especially probable, but instead merely requires treating at least one at-least-partly consequentialist moral theory as an open hypothesis, and is therefore applicable even under conditions of moral uncertainty or moral neutrality. My discussion begins abstractly, but as it progresses it gradually applies its framework to increasingly concrete issues. I find that the justification of some liberal policies—in the classical sense of "liberal"—can be accomplished with significantly fewer moral assumptions than have traditionally been relied upon.
likelihood of bringing about good consequences, even under varying and mutually incompatible hypotheses about what consequences count as "good". We therefore have a subjective, pro tanto moral reason to perform such actions and enact such policies—one
whose justification does not require treating any particular theory as especially probable, but instead merely requires treating at least one at-least-partly consequentialist moral theory as an open hypothesis, and is therefore applicable even under conditions of moral uncertainty or moral neutrality. My discussion begins abstractly, but as it progresses it gradually applies its framework to increasingly concrete issues. I find that the justification of some liberal policies—in the classical sense of "liberal"—can be accomplished with significantly fewer moral assumptions than have traditionally been relied upon.
Subject
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Topic
Ethics
Identifier
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http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000061539
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TitleInfo
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Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
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NjNbRU
Identifier
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doi:10.7282/T3QV3KSQ
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
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Name
FamilyName
Williams
GivenName
Evan
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Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
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2011-04-11 22:56:19
AssociatedEntity
Name
Evan Williams
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
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725504
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