[Revised entry by Terence Cuneo on May 12, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
The moral theories defended by modern philosophers are said to fall into two categories. On the one hand, are the rationalist positions developed by thinkers such as Samuel Clarke, William Wollaston, and Richard Price. The rationalists, it’s claimed, believe that reason is the basis of morality – where this means that moral reality is grasped by (and perhaps grounded in) reason. On the other hand, are the sentimentalist positions championed by philosophers such as the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, and David Hume….

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