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In this thesis I defend a form of moral realism against Richard Joyce's evolutionary argument for an error theory. I explain how evolutionary data can be used to explain human behaviour, ultimately endorsing a developmental systems perspective on the evolution of traits. I argue that evolutionary theories of ethics, developmentally conceived, are best demarcated from non-evolutionary ethical theories by appealing to the distinction between moral philosophy and moral psychology. I then set out Joyce's argument for an error theory, and in so doing respond to his claim that moral properties cannot be successfully naturalised. I then consider different naturalistic approaches to moral realism, assessing whether these approaches successfully meet Joyce's sceptical challenge. I look first at Philippa Foot's neo-Aristotelian approach to virtue ethics, arguing that her position fails because of her commitment to eudaimonism, and to a welfarist conception offunction. I then consider Jesse Prinz's realist sentimentalism. This too, I argue, fails to constitute a convincing reply to Joyce, owing to internal inconsistencies, and to the failure of Prinz's theory to meet certain criteria intuitively constitutive of moral realism. Finally, I argue that a successful realist response to Joyce can be made by developing an evolutionary account of care ethics. I begin to develop such an account in the final chapter of the thesis, showing how the theory which I sketch meets each of the aspects of Joyce's argument for an error theory.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2002 u.d.T.: Fuchs, Dieter: Menippos on the Liffey

Thesis--University of Cologne. / Limited ed. of 300 copies. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 262-271). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis--Wisconsin. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-172).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1987. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1985. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-280).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 293-318). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.