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Ethics and Language
How much can individuals be influenced by reason? In his review of "Ethics and Language" Stuart Chase states, "This is on of the most important questions ever asked, one on which our survival may depend." In this extraordinary book, a distinguished American philosopher gives his answer to this fundamental question of ethics.
- GenresPhilosophyLinguistics
338 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1944
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 12, 2011
I had heard a lot of really spectacular things about C.L. Stevenson's 'Ethics and Language' headed into reading it, and I have to say that it did fall below a lot of the expectations that were set for me by those previews. However, there are a lot of terrific things to say about this book.
First, lets get my general criticisms and frustrations out of the way. It is not terrifically well written. Stevenson likes to bounce back and forth between concrete ethical issues and theoretical approaches to language. He is, of course, using the ethical issues to illustrate his theoretical view of language; unfortunately, the peculiarities of many of his examples (like slavery) distract from his heavily theoretical discussion. It would have been much easier for Stevenson (and me, as the reader) to stay on point if the discussions had been able to stay more on point.
Stevenson is not a great writer, and so there are a lot of problems in composition. Like a good philosophy professor, he enjoys his tangents, but it isn't really edited down in a way that makes it an easy read. This book can be very, very challenging to follow.
That said, the content is absolutely amazing. I understand where the recommendation came from, looking back at my marginalia in the book. The book may jump around a lot, but it is a brilliant piece of writing, and covers one of the most interesting topics in contemporary ethics, applying them to social thought and epistemology.
To those interesting in philosophy of language, and those interested in the emotivist school of thought that comes out of A.J. Ayer and his followers, I strongly recommend this book. Stevenson presents a theory of language and ethics that I really do think is amazing and thought provoking, despite being fairly old. He does engage a lot of the philosophical devices that are familiar to those who have read Ayer (and other philosophers in the 1920s and 30s) and so those who are interested in the development of those philosophical views, whether its early Wittgenstein on language or whatever, should check out this book. It is not going to be the easiest thing you've read, and you'll wrestle with it, but I promise it will be worth it.
First, lets get my general criticisms and frustrations out of the way. It is not terrifically well written. Stevenson likes to bounce back and forth between concrete ethical issues and theoretical approaches to language. He is, of course, using the ethical issues to illustrate his theoretical view of language; unfortunately, the peculiarities of many of his examples (like slavery) distract from his heavily theoretical discussion. It would have been much easier for Stevenson (and me, as the reader) to stay on point if the discussions had been able to stay more on point.
Stevenson is not a great writer, and so there are a lot of problems in composition. Like a good philosophy professor, he enjoys his tangents, but it isn't really edited down in a way that makes it an easy read. This book can be very, very challenging to follow.
That said, the content is absolutely amazing. I understand where the recommendation came from, looking back at my marginalia in the book. The book may jump around a lot, but it is a brilliant piece of writing, and covers one of the most interesting topics in contemporary ethics, applying them to social thought and epistemology.
To those interesting in philosophy of language, and those interested in the emotivist school of thought that comes out of A.J. Ayer and his followers, I strongly recommend this book. Stevenson presents a theory of language and ethics that I really do think is amazing and thought provoking, despite being fairly old. He does engage a lot of the philosophical devices that are familiar to those who have read Ayer (and other philosophers in the 1920s and 30s) and so those who are interested in the development of those philosophical views, whether its early Wittgenstein on language or whatever, should check out this book. It is not going to be the easiest thing you've read, and you'll wrestle with it, but I promise it will be worth it.
January 29, 2025
The practical meat is in the second half of the book even for today's discourse in the online realm.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews