Philosophical Ethics

Moving across Mill, Kant and now, Nietzsche, it is clear that a philosophical ethics is capable of developing a form and understanding of the moral life without needing to ground that moral life within a theology (i.e., a morality of the divine), let alone abandoning it to popular prejudice. This raises perhaps an interesting question: what is “philosophy” such that it represents a legitimate source of the moral life, in addition to providing that source with an authority to determine what is right, what is wrong, and who the virtuous person is? For this paper, reflect on these questions using the texts and readings (Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill and Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant) and organize your thoughts around the more basic question: what is it to inquire, develop and live the ethical life from a philosophical perspective?