Urmsons article saints and heroes, in which he argues that the categories which modern philosophers use to classify moral actions is insufficient, as it is. Urmson argued that the thendominant tripartite deontic scheme of classifying actionsas exclusively. In his 1958 paper saints and heroes, philosopher j. In his article saints and heroes, urmson argues that traditional moral theories allow at most for a threefold classification of actions in terms of their worth, and. Publication date 1912 topics saints, heroes, legends. In a paper entitled saints and heroes1 professor j. Urmson has criticised the trichotomy of duties, indifferent actions, and wrongdoing p. There are opportunities to link with aspects of history and citizenship and to build upon work in unit 2. Urmsons article, saints and heroes 1958, there has been an increasing. Scribd is the worlds largest social reading and publishing site. Urmson argued that the thendominant tripartite deontic scheme of classifying actions as. Wolfs moral saints as nonsupererogatory moral ideals. Urmson argued that utilitarianism and kantian ethics have no place for the commonly acknowledged fact that some actions are praiseworthy but beyond.
Urmson brings the example of a doctor who volunteers to join the depleted medical forces in a plaguestricken city whom we would call a saint, or a soldier who throws himself on a grenade in order to save his comrades whom we would call a hero. The book of saints and heroes paperback may 1, 2010 by andrew lang author, jr. Urmsons point was that the acts of saints and heroes are outstanding in the moral realm and because of this, any theory which would have us ignore this is. Reflections on the paradox of supererogation by terry horgan and mark timmons i. In a paper entitled saints and heroes 1 professor j. Article information, pdf download for hero versus saint. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. James opie urmson 4 march 1915 29 january 2012, usually cited as j. Include past and present saints and heroes from different world faiths, starting with the local.
Saints and heroes introduces the concept of supererogation to the discourse on rational moral philosophy, previously available mostly in roman catholicism, and argues that a complete moral theory must account for the supererogatory as a class of moral action unto itself. Heroes and saints in the literature as partners dialogue for a. Professor urmson on saints and heroes philosophy cambridge. Introduction in his seminal essay, saints and heroes 1958, j. Urmson, saints and heroes, in essays in moral philosophy, a.