Targett, Michael; (1997) Naturalism and human needs. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The following is an attempt to integrate moral and political values with an attachment to a broader world-view within which natural-scientific knowledge is central. The main claim is that such an integration can be best effected by recognizing the existence and priority of human needs. A commitment to the epistemology of, rather than the ontology of, natural science is argued for. This is then defended against an argument for scientific relativism which claims that different scientific traditions are incommensurable. Unlike other contemporary naturalistic replies to the claim of relativism, this defence rejects the idea that naturalism can rely on a causal theory of reference for natural kind terms, a rejection based on a naturalistic appreciation of the ubiquity of causal relations in the world. The anthropocentric doctrine of libertarianism is distinguished as one source of opposition to this naturalistic ambition, and several forms of libertarianism are examined and refuted. The first ethical implications of naturalism are then examined, in relation to our notion of moral responsibility; it is argued that the falsity of libertarianism should lead us to revise some of our pre-reflective ideas about responsibility. Next follows a general examination of the relation between ethical and scientific thought, and the contention that the two are unified by the common role that theory-building plays within each of them. Two kinds of moral theory -- namely, consequentialism non-consequentialism -- are distinguished, and consequentialism is argued to have several advantages. A consequentialist notion of the good as need-satisfaction is defended against consequentialist competitors, notably that which conceives of the good as preference- satisfaction. A conception of needs is advanced in which meeting needs amounts to redressing shortfalls in human functioning, the latter being understood in the terms of our best scientific theories. Some contemporary forms of egalitarianism are criticized for their attempt to combine a regard for the worst-off with liberal neutrality about the nature of a good life, and some practical consequences of needs-based alternatives are sketched.

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