Xunzi and naturalistic ethics

• Main Author: TAN, Sor-hoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2550; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3807/viewcontent/Tan2015_Article_XunziAndNaturalisticEthics.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The ascendency of science in modern times makes it commonplace to accept that science presents the only true and correct image of reality. This has led to naturalization attempts in various domains, from epistemology, metaphysics, to philosophy of mind, and ethics. Naturalistic ethics may mean different things depending on what we consider natural. David Copp equates it with the empirical – emphasizing the relevance of empirical evidence to justification – while admitting that what is empirical is itself problematic.1 One might count as empirical that which can be observed by our physical senses, or more narrowly that which can be studied by the natural sciences.