Ethics

Ethics, by Louis Pojman, is a textbook on ethics that I read simply because I found a photocopy at home, which was borrowed by my wife from her friend's sister. It probably had a profound effect on her intellectual development since it kindled her interest in philosophy, which she eventually studied as her undergraduate degree.

I tend to agree with Pojman's moral objectivist stance. I see moral relativism, especially subjectivism, as a nihilist, not to mention selfish, intellectual dead end. I may even be an intuitionist to some degree as I think that some acts are, on their face value and even without recourse to reason, so morally repugnant that no decent person would even attempt to argue on the grounds of cultural relativism, e.g. torturing children.

Virtue based ethics, as expounded in the works of Plato and Aristotle, also appeals to me. Morality springs forth from a morally excellent character. The emphasis on personal moral development in the context of a moral community is richer and more natural than an individualist and minimalist morality that focuses on sanctions and prohibitions. It is in relation to this thought that I think of how religion fits quite naturally with morality and why secular morality sometimes feels empty and groundless.