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In Search of Moral Knowledge: Overcoming the Fact-Value Dichotomy Paperback – June 2, 2014

by R. Scott Smith (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 5 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 363 pages
  • Publisher: IVP Academic (June 2, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0830840389
  • ISBN-13: 978-0830840380
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,535,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsDeep Study of the Moral Argument
By Nick Peters on July 8, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
I wish to thank IVP for providing a copy of this book for a review first off. I find the moral argument to be a highly interesting argument. Now my own variation of it is that I prefer to use the fourth way of Aquinas and have it be the argument from goodness of which morality is a subsection of that. Yet insofar as it goes, the moral argument works fine and Smith has given an impressive tour de force on this.

Smith starts off with the history of how we got to this point in understanding morality today. He starts with the Bible and what is found in both testaments. He then goes on to look at the work of Plato and Aristotle and takes us through the medieval period and then through many of the great philosophers of the Enlightenment period and beyond and even goes up to interacting with postmodern looks at morality. At this point, there can be no doubt that Smith has done his research and done it well.

Smith also seeks to be as fair as he can with those whom he is dialoguing with. He admits that he has made errors in understanding past opponents at times and tries to read their works in light of all that they are saying. Smith indeed shows impressive scholarship in the field. At this point, I do think it's important to let the reader know that I think he will need more than a layman's understanding of the field to get the most out of this book.

Smith in the end concludes that naturalistic theories not only do not account for moral knowledge, but that they do not account for any knowledge whatsoever. This is true in whatever case he looks at as each position begs certain questions. There is also the problem that many of them deny essences and for Smith, a physicalist explanation of the nature of man is just incapable of being able to provide knowledge.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn Excellent Overview and Critique of Ethical Theory from a Theistic Perspective
By J.W. Wartick on September 8, 2014
Format: Paperback
R. Scott Smith’s In Search of Moral Knowledge: Overcoming the Fact-Value Dichotomy is a systematic look at the possibility of moral knowledge in various metaethical systems, with an argument that a theistic, and specifically Christian, worldview is the most plausible way to ground the reality of morals.

Smith begins by providing overviews of various historical perspectives on ethics, including biblical, ancient (Plato and Aristotle), early (Augustine through Aquinas), and early modern (Reformation through the Enlightenment) systems. This survey is necessarily brief, but Smith provides enough information and background for readers to get an understanding of various ethical systems along with some difficulties related to each.

Next, the major options of naturalism, relativism, and postmodernism for ethics are examined in turn, with much critical interaction. For example, Smith argues that ethical relativism is deeply flawed in both method and content. He argues that relativism does not provide an adequate basis for moral knowledge, and it also undermines its own argument for ethical diversity and, by extension, relativism. Moreover, it fails to provide any way forward for how one is to live on such an ethical system and is thus confronted with the reality that it is unlivable. Ultimately, he concludes that “Ethical Relativism utterly fails as a moral theory and as a guide to one’s own moral life” (163).

For Naturalism, however, Smith contends the situation is even worse: “we cannot have knowledge of reality, period, based on naturalism’s ontology. Yet there are many things we do know. Therefore, naturalism is false and we should reject it not just for ethics, but in toto” (137).Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsSmith's search for moral knowledge is an important one.
By Clint on September 20, 2015
Format: Paperback
Thanks to IVP for the free review copy of the book.

I find books on morality utterly fascinating, mainly because it has implications for our lives. I have recently seen the importance of metaphysical discussions, which probably have even more importance because your metaphysical views will often inform your moral ones. The main purpose of Smith's book is to show that we must overcome this idea, deeply ingrained in our social consciousness, that there is a split between fact and value. In other words, we can know reality as it really is and, it follows, that we can have true knowledge about moral facts.

Smith comes at this from the view of a substance dualist (though he says he has more Aristotelian-Thomistic leanings than Cartesian ones, making him resemble a hylomorphist more). He also argues that if naturalism is true, then we can't have any knowledge of reality at all, which also means that we shouldn't take seriously naturalistic arguments against dualism, because if we can't know reality, there is no way to know if their arguments against dualism are true.

Smith takes much time in giving a history of different moral views. It is not an exhaustive journey (e.g. he talks at length about Plato and Aristotle, but not about the Stoics or Epicureans), but again, he can't really cover everything and get what he needs done in the length of his book. He essentially covers the moral views of the most prominent philosophers of their time, from Plato and Aristotle, to Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant, and others, leading up to postmodern thinkers. Aside from covering these differing moral views, Smith argues that most of these views (the ones that reject hylomorphism and Aristotelian philosophy) should be rejected as untenable.Read more ›
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