Philosophy 433 History of Ethics Darwall Winter 2008

SHORT PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Write a five to seven page essay in which you critically analyze Hutcheson's arguments for the thesis that morality is natural to human beings in the senses that: (a) the motive in which moral goodness consists is part of human nature (i.e., in normal human beings it develops to some degree under normal conditions) and (b) the human response that determines that this motive is morally good is natural (in the same sense). Assess also Hutcheson’s claim that this motive is morally good and so, in some sense, a motive we morally ought to have. Say something also about what a Hobbesian should say about this.

Your papers are due on Monday, February 11.