Wolff, the Pursuit of Perfection, and What We Owe to Each Other

Abstract

Abstract This chapter deals with an important part of how Wolff pursued the normative ambitions of his ethics in giving practical guidance with regard to specific moral issues. It first considers how Wolff’s ethics tackles duties to others, which traditionally represent a difficult issue for moral perfectionism. In this regard, the chapter argues that Wolff’s strategy combines two aspects: (a) he includes in perfection non-active aspects and (b) he operates with an agent-neutral notion of perfection, despite important passages that might suggest otherwise. It then focuses on Wolff’s treatment of duties concerning veracity and lying and shows how it follows that general strategy. Combining its two aspects, Wolff examines specific moral issues by adopting a non-welfarist notion of benefit and harm as the standard that can give guidance about practical cases.