Ethical Explorations

Abstract John Skorupski develops in these essays a distinctive and systematic moral philosophy, examining fundamental questions in ethics, and then applying the results to issues of culture and politics. The first three parts of the book focus on central ethical concepts: reasons, the good, and morality. Skorupski examines normative claims about what we have reason to think, feel, or do. He then presents a conception of the good which differs significantly from the utilitarianism of Mill while maintaining its important insights. Drawing on Kant and Hegel, his account of morality relates it to autonomy and the emotions involved in blame and recognition. The final part of the book is a liberal critique of the forms of liberalism which dominate contemporary culture. Ethical Explorations firmly links liberal politics to its ethical ideal, and links that ideal to modern morality and modern ideas of the good.