Timothy Chappell develops a picture of what philosophical ethics can be like, once set aside from the idealising and reductive pressures of conventional moral theory. His question is 'How are we to know what to do?', and the answer he defends is 'By developing our moral imaginations'. The series of studies presented in Knowing What To Do contribute to the case that the moral imagination is a key part of human excellence or virtue by showing that it plays a wide variety of roles in our practical and evaluative lives. There is no short-cut or formulaic way of knowing what to do; but the longer and more painstaking approach is more rewarding anyway. This approach involves developing our repertoire of natural human capacities for imagination, open deliberation, and contemplative attention to the world, the people, and the reality of value around us.

Introduction 1

1. What Makes a Good Decision? 7

2. Three Kinds of Moral Imagination 29

3. Intuition, System, and the 'Paradox' of Deontology 60

4. Impartial Benevolence and Partial Love 80

5. Internal Reasons and the Heart's Desire 107

6. On the Very Idea of Criteria for Personhood 131

7. Glory as an Ethical Idea 158

8. Beauty and Nobility in Ethics 185

9. Moral Certainties 208

10. Why Ethics is Hard 232

11. The Varieties of Knowledge in Plato and Aristotle 263

12. Platonistic Virtue Ethics 295

Bibliography 323

Index 335

Timothy Chappell is the author of numerous books and articles on ethics, ancient philosophy, epistemology, and philosophy of religion. He has taught at universities including the University of Oxford, the University of British Columbia, the University of East Anglia, and the University of Manchester. Since 2006 he has been Professor of Philosophy at The Open University.

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