Moral Reality. A Defence of Moral Realism

I will try to show that there exists an initiatory theological-philosophical tradition, the acknowledgement of which entails a set of considerations that I believe can shed light on

Philosophical Studies, 2005

For this second issue, the editorial board was delighted to receive so many submissions. Upholding our high quality standards, however, we could only accept a small number of essays that offer our readers the very best. We strive to publish essays that -besides solid argumentation and analysis -make creative and original use of existing philosophical work and contain contributions that are distinctly the author's own. Students are therefore strongly encouraged to write essays that make interesting and original contributions to the existing literature or a more general topic of interest for the completion of their courses.

Review: Lloyd P. Gerson, Plato’s Moral Realism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2023, 2024

We can summarise that the decided strength of Gerson’s monograph can be located in the coherent, knowledgeable and textually grounded way in which he affirms and deepens the metaphysical-ethical connection based on the idea of the Good. All in all, the main merit of Gerson’s examination does not lie in the originality of his central thesis, which has clear textual evidence in Plato’s Republic. Nevertheless, Gerson can convincingly demonstrate that the ethical claims in the Platonic dialogues cannot be defended without the integration of a first principle of everything, since otherwise they would have to be read as mere rhetoric, tendentious prejudice or pious hope. Gerson thus succeeds in this attempt to counteract the reduction of Platonic ethics to a theory of action or psychology of human motivation. Gerson’s monograph can be recommended to all interested Plato readers and researchers for two main reasons: On the one hand, Gerson systematically opens up the individual paradigmatic dialogues with regard to the idea of the good and reveals its constant presence from the early to the late phase. On the other hand, the monograph is enlightening because Gerson advocates that a metaphysical and normative approach is important in Plato and also today when discussing issues of religion and politics under a philosophical horizon.

Philosophical Readings IV.1 is out! It includes: 1. Patricia Springborg, Calvin and Hobbes: A Reply to Curley, Martinich and Wright – 2. A.P. Martinich, On Thomas Hobbes’s English Calvinism: Necessity, Omnipotence, and Goodness – 3. Mauro Farnesi Camellone, Hobbes e i martiri del Leviatano. Sui limiti della coscienza– 4. Antonio Vernacotola, Profili di gnoseologia e teologia politica nel modulo epistemologico della ‘scienza civile’ di Hobbes – 5. Understanding Hobbes. Interview with Quentin Skinner by Marco Sgarbi – 6. Patricia Springborg, Reply to Martinich on Hobbes’s English Calvinism. Reviews of M. del Rosario Acosta López: La tragedia como conjuro: el problema de lo sublime en Friedrich Schiller (Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2008) (L. Bodas Fernández); Lieve Van Hoof, Plutarch’s Practical Ethics. The Social Dynamics of Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) (A. Corti); Cordula Burtscher e Markus Hien (cur.), Schiller im philosophischen Kontext (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2011) (L.A. Macor); Davide Tarizzo, La vita, un’inven­zione recente (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2010) (G. Velasco Arias).

The fifth issue of the ESJP marks an important moment for the journal, for several distinct reasons. With regard to the content, I am delighted that we have started to receive submissions from subfields of philosophy that were underrepresented in previous issues: the history of philosophy and theoretical philosophy. It is important that the ESJP will continue to represent the best written work produced by students of the faculty of philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam. This issue is a case in point with respect to the versatility of that faculty. It features contributions from an MA-student, a student engaged in the Research Master program in Early Modern and Intellectual History (which includes courses in philosophy) and, last but not least, two papers written by Research Master students of the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics. The inclusion of material from very diverse branches of the philosophical tree has only been possible thanks to the faculty staff. The editorial board is particularly grateful to them for nominating excellent papers written for their own courses and for reviewing papers written for other courses.

2002

With this issue we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the rst publication of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies, rst launched in March 1993. Our original plan was to produce two high-quality issues a year containing articles in all areas of philosophy, but aiming especially to contribute to the ongoing dialogue between analytic and Continental philosophy. Because of the overwhelming number and quality of submissions received, and the positive reaction of the readership, in 1997 the journal moved to three issues a year. Last year, 2001, the IJPS again expanded -this time to full quarterly publication.

Philosophy Today 66:1, 2022

All subscriptions begin with the rst issue of the volume year. Online access is available by subscription, and includes all available issues.