Outline of Positions and Philosophers

By William Soderberg

1. Foundationalism (reality as firmly grounded in self-evident or factual truths)

Morality is based on knowledge of ultimate reality

Linked loosely with ways of life: dualism with agricultural; materialism with industrial

1.1 Strict moral communi­tarianism or moral conservatism (dualist worldview,      rationalism)

Classic virtue theory: Plato, Epictetus, Augustine, Descartes,

Fascism: Benito Mussolini

1.2 Strict moral liberalism (materialist or naturalist worldview, empiricism)

Hedonism: Epicurus, Hobbes (transition figure to strict moral liberalism)

Strict deontologism (classic libertarianism): John Locke, Thomas Jefferson

Strict consequentialism (classic utilitarian): Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill & Harriet Taylor, Karl Marx

2. Anti-foundationalism or Non-foundationalism (reality as phenomenon or flow of experience, coherentism in epistemology)

Morality arises from personal and collective experience

Different notions of the good life: nomadic, agricultural, industrial

2.1 Moderate moral communitarianism or moderate moral conservatism

Moderate virtue theory: Aristotle, Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Sandel, Charles   Taylor; Edmund Husserl, Jean-Paul Sartre; Confucianist Perspectives

Ethics of Care: M.L.King, Cornel West, Bill Lawson, Lucius Outlaw; Annette Baier, Sara Ruddick, Jean Grimshaw; Buddhist Perspectives

2.2 Moderate moral liberalism

Moderate deontologism (Kantianism): Immanuel Kant, John Rawls

Moderate consequentialism (pragmatism): John Dewey, William James