Reviews for Ethics and language

The average rating for Ethics and language based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-01 00:00:00 Brad Pettingell 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-13 00:00:00 Darlene Jones An excellent analysis regarding the relations among language, truth, and knowledge. A must read for fans of Russell or those interested in analytic philosophy in general.