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EXPERTISE, WISDOM AND MORAL PHILOSOPHERS: A RESPONSE TO GESANG
Author(s) -
COWLEY CHRISTOPHER
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2010.01860.x
Subject(s) - moral philosophy , bioethics , epistemology , philosophy , moral psychology , moral authority , sociology , law , political science
In a recent issue of Bioethics, Bernard Gesang asks whether a moral philosopher possesses greater moral expertise than a non‐philosopher, and his answer is a qualified yes, based not so much on his infallible access to the truth, but on the quality of his theoretically‐informed moral justifications. I reject Gesang's claim that there is such a thing as moral expertise, although the moral philosopher may well make a valid contribution to the ethics committee as a concerned and educated citizen. I suggest that wisdom is a lot more interesting to examine than moral expertise. Again, however, moral philosophers have no monopoly on wisdom, and the study of philosophy may even impede its cultivation.