Hugur - 01.01.2014, Page 71

Heimspekin og lífið 71
Wolff, Jonathan. 2011. Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry. Lundúnum:
Routledge.
Abstract
Practical Ethics and Ancient Philosophy
The context of ancient philosophy is vastly different from that of contemporary
philosophy. If we consider the context of applied ethics, its origins and practice
in our day, we find specific differences – contextual differences – between an-
cient philosophy and contemporary philosophy. I have two kinds of differences in
mind. First, ancient philosophers did not insulate their philosophy from daily life,
at least not in the manner we are accustomed to. They lived or pretended to live
their philosophy and explained how others could join them. This was part of the
idea of philosophy. It was a way of life. This conception of philosophy may have
been common to philosophers from Socrates onwards. At some point philosophy
began to be conceived differently. The close connections between philosophy and
life were severed. Philosophy was no longer conceived as a way of life. Religion
took over. Subsequently philosophy changed. These days the practice of applied
ethics is an attempt to renew the connection between philosophy and at least
complex aspects of modern life, public and private, whether in order to aid indi-
viduals to clarify their options, various groups to get to grips with the constantly
changing challenges of their professions, or authorities to decide public policy.
But to this we can add another deep difference between ancient and contempo-
rary philosophy. Ancient philosophers did not only regard their philosophy as
a way of life, but they actually shared fundamental assumptions in their moral
philosophies, about knowledge, virtue and happiness (although there remained
ample room for differences). Our times, then, are different from ancient times
in these two ways. Philosophy is now insulated from life in a manner alien to
the ancients. And the pluralism that characterizes our world renders a consensus
about basic assumptions in the manner of the ancients unrealistic. This pluralism
demands a policy of means as opposed to shared ends.
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