Action, Morality and Language

Abstract

In recent metaethics there is an interesting trend to ground moral theory within
the sphere of the reasons for action. In the paper I attempt a new analysis of
action with particular attention to the situation in which it takes place. I
argue that there are some underlying assumptions in the conceptualizations of
the situations that affect both the concepts of reasons for action and the whole
structure of ethical theories. I illustrate my thesis with the example of J.
Dancy’s moral particularism and the complex, hybrid theory of T. Nagel.