Moral Philosophy
As students of philosophy rapidly find out, often to their disappointment,
moral philosophy does not consist of the teaching of moral truths, or even the
study of moral codes. Moral philosophy is, largely, a metaphysical subject, that
is, it is the study of the logical structure and philosophical nature of moral
statements. How do we come to have moral beliefs? Can they be proven and
disproven? What does it actually mean when someone says ‘X is bad’ or ‘Y is
desirable’? How is a moral argument made? Are there any moral beliefs that can
be shown to be untenable? Admittedly moral philosophy in the Anglo-
American world has moved away from the extremepositivistposition it took
up in the 1960s, and admittedly continental European philosophy tends to be
more concerned with actual values, but these are only relative differences and
the essence of moral philosophy remains the understanding of the nature of
moral discourse, rather than making substantive moral arguments. In this it
contrasts oddly with political philosophy. Even though the questions in
political philosophy, such as ‘what is the best form of the state?’ and ‘is private
property necessary or even acceptable?’, are just as much matters of value rather
than fact, political philosophers try to give actual answers, rather than just
discussing the process of thinking about the philosophy. The difference perhaps
comes because political philosophers are usually able to take for granted human
desires, and consider what political arrangements will best satisfy them,
whereas a substantive moral philosophy would have to begin by defining what
were acceptable desires in the first place. Of course, a study of moral
philosophy can make one a better person, by sharpening one’s understanding
of moral argument, making one aware of inconsistencies and the implications
of one’s desires. But in the end moral philosophy can only work by assuming
rationality of argument and compatibility of views to be prime values, and
while they may be to philosophers, it is not always clear that they are qualities
of any great interest to the rest of the population. Moral philosophy is in fact a
slightly outdated term—it is now much more likely to described as ‘ethics’, and
its philosophical practitioners as ‘ethicists’. Whether or not this is connected to
a growing tendency for it to be more substantive—actually to argue for specific
moral goods rather than concentrate entirely on the form of moral argument—
is unclear.
Mouvement Re ́publicaine Populaire (MRP)
The Mouvement Re ́publicaine Populaire was an important but relatively
short-lived French political party. It was, in essence, a Catholic-basedChris-
tian socialistparty, built on the Catholic part of the Resistance movement in
the Second World War, and was electorally very popular throughout the
Fourth Republic. This was particularly significant because the preceding
Moral Philosophy