The Birth of Ethics: Reconstructing the Role and Nature of Morality, by Philip Pettit, edited by Kinch Hoekstra

Abstract

Though many mistook his intentions as blasphemes, Voltaire meant to defend God’s reality when he wrote, in 1768: ‘If God didn’t exist, we would have to invent him’ (Voltaire 1877-1885, Vol. 10, p. 402). The fact that society needs God, Voltaire thought, is a reason to accept God’s reality, not a reason to dismiss it. Similarly, Philip Pettit aims to vindicate our moral concepts and practices by uncovering their crucial functions. Some might worry that, like Voltaire’s proclamation, Pettit’s account unwittingly attacks the concepts and practices it is meant to defend; others would find in this book a new, powerful vindication of morality. To be sure, neither Voltaire nor God makes an appearance in The Birth of Ethics. Rather, Pettit takes his cue from a standard genealogy of money in economics (Menger 1892). A (non-historical) barter society in which people trade various goods and services...