DeepSummary
The episode discusses the life and ideas of the influential 20th century philosopher Philippa Foot. It explores her central question of 'Why be moral?' and her rejection of the prevailing view that values were subjective. Foot drew from Aristotle and Aquinas to develop an ethics based on virtues, arguing that humans need virtues to flourish, just as plants need light and water.
The guests delve into Foot's background, her philosophical influences like Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Anscombe, and her critique of the fact-value distinction. They discuss her work on applied ethics, particularly the famous 'Trolley Problem,' which highlighted the moral difference between action and inaction.
The episode also examines Foot's later work, 'Natural Goodness,' where she argued for an objective foundation for morality based on human nature and flourishing. Her idea of reasoning well, encompassing moral sensitivity, and the concept of the 'shameless' person who disregards morality are explored.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Philippa Foot rejected the prevailing view that moral values were subjective and developed an ethics based on virtues drawing from Aristotle and Aquinas.
- Foot argued that humans need virtues like justice, courage, and benevolence to truly flourish, just as plants need light and water.
- Her work explored the difference between action and inaction through thought experiments like the 'Trolley Problem.'
- In her later work 'Natural Goodness,' Foot grounded morality in human nature and reasoning well, including moral sensitivity.
- Foot valued careful, focused consideration over cleverness alone in philosophical inquiry.
- Her social upbringing and wartime experiences shaped her philosophical perspectives.
- She remained tenacious in pursuing her central question of 'Why be moral?' throughout her career, despite challenges.
- Foot had a lasting influence in bringing virtues and the critique of the fact-value distinction to the forefront of moral philosophy.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Sometimes in moral philosophy, it's important to think about plants, which kind of sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but one way to think about natural goodness is that it says there's a certain way we have of evaluating living things, plants, animals, human beings, which brings with it certain standards of defectiveness and excellence.“ by Anil Gomes
- “She was brought up in a 16 bedroom mansion in Yorkshire, and she had a life that was in many ways extremely privileged, horse riding, hunting, fishing, shooting, all those things. But on the other hand, she always felt, I think, that her childhood was slightly deprived.“ by Rachel Wiseman
- “We're social animals for foot. So it's not a contingent fact about human beings that we operate in societies, that we are dependent on each other, that we look after each other's children, and that sets various standards of assessment by which we can think about whether human beings are doing well or not.“ by Anil Gomes
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Episode Information
In Our Time
BBC Radio 4
6/13/24
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most significant philosophers of the twentieth century, Philippa Foot (1920 - 2010). Her central question was, “Why be moral?” Drawing on Aristotle and Aquinas, Foot spent her life working through her instinct that there was something lacking in the prevailing philosophy of the 1950s and 1960s which held that values could only be subjective. Could there really be no objective response to the horrors of the concentration camps that she had seen on newsreels, no way of saying that such acts were morally wrong? Foot developed an ethics based on virtues, in which humans needed virtues to flourish as surely as plants needed light and water. While working through her ideas she explored applied ethics and the difference between doing something and letting it happen, an idea she illustrated with what became The Trolley Problem.
With
Anil Gomes Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Trinity College, University of Oxford
Sophie Grace Chappell Professor of Philosophy at the Open University
And
Rachael Wiseman Reader in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool
Producer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Reading list:
Philippa Foot, Virtues and Vices (Oxford University Press, 1978)
Philippa Foot, Moral Dilemmas (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness (Oxford University Press, 2001)
John Hacker-Wright, Philippa Foot's Moral Thought (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Benjamin Lipscomb, The Women Are Up To Something (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life (Chatto, 2022)
Dan Russell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics (Cambridge University Press), especially ‘Virtue Ethics in the Twentieth Century’ by Timothy (now Sophie Grace) Chappell