Reasons and the Good ? Roger Crisp

In his new book, Roger Crisp takes two steps back and one step forwards. In order to answer certain fundamental questions in ethics, Reasons and the Good creates an original mix of provocative views which most others have abandoned long ago. Crisp defends these views bravely against the philosophical currents that have run against them. His case for them remains inconclusive, but he manages to make them serious contenders again in the main debates of ethics. Crisp's style is admirably lucid. I have only two minor complaints. First, even though he explicitly endorses constructive philosophical debate (p. 95), many of the defenders of the conflicting views are straw men. As a result, we do not always get to the heart of the interesting philosophical issues. Instead, the undeveloped ‘opponents’ are occasionally dismissed with rhetorical questions, straight denials and accusations of question‐begging. Secondly, even though conciseness is a virtue, this book is at places too concise. Many of the crucial arguments, replies to objections and refinements of views are presented in the space of just a few sentences. This makes their assessment rather difficult. Given the shortness of the book, there would have been room for explaining the insights more patiently for the reader

Begging · Constructive · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Order (exchange) · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Style (visual arts) · Virtue · Computer Science · Ethics in medical practice · Philosophy