The Metaphysics of Goodness
Abstract
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).
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Kain, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Criminology|Philosophy|Virology
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.