Purdue University Graduate School
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The Metaphysics of Goodness

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posted on 2021-05-06, 14:03 authored by Berman ChanBerman Chan
What is it for something to be good? Using the example of an Ebola-like microbe, I argue that a merely kind-based account of goodness is defective (Chapter 1). I offer instead an account that is both kind-based and platonic (Chapter 2). On such an account, goodness turns out to be non-natural (Chapter 3). However, non-naturalists can explain why the goodness of an individual supervenes on its natural properties, by appealing to the essence of the kind to which it belongs (Chapter 4).

History

Degree Type

  • Doctor of Philosophy

Department

  • Philosophy

Campus location

  • West Lafayette

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Patrick P. Kain

Additional Committee Member 2

Michael Bergmann

Additional Committee Member 3

Jeffrey Brower

Additional Committee Member 4

Daniel Frank