Abstract

The author defends the thesis that morality constitutes an irreducible domain of value. There is no point of view external to morality from which we can reason ourselves into a proper appreciation of the nature of the moral life. This thesis is developed not only by way of objections to the Hobbesian perspective, but also in criticism of certain central aspects of Kantian ethics. Instead of a morality of autonomy, it is the autonomy of morality which we should embrace. Such a view of morality requires, however, that we break with a. reigning philosophical ideology of our time, namely the naturalistic conception of the world.