The Problem of Intelligibility
In Chapter 6 it was argued that we should not infer from something's being bad for someone that it is bad simpliciter. The example was this: smoking cigarettes might be bad for George, but it would not follow that smoking is bad (period). In addition to rejecting this inference, we should also ask a question about its conclusion: what would it even mean to say that smoking is bad? This chapter addresses this question. Doing so should make us realize that Geach, Foot, and Thomson have raised a legitimate question, and one that is not easily answered. Although their diagnosis of what goes awry in talk about absolute goodness is rejected, it is a step forward to feel the force of their argument.
Keywords: bad, simpliciter, absolute goodness, smoking
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .