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Sextus Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Questions (MrP)
Hi MrP, how’s it going? Finally, one of my papers was accepted for publication, but the referee suggested that I should simplify “some of the over wrought grammatical constructions”.
1) “One of the views most commonly adopted by contemporary ethical skepticism is the one which denies that moral values or moral facts form part of the objective world. The most prominent defender of this view has been J. L. Mackie, who in his influential book Ethics defines his ethical skepticism as the negative stance which says…”
2) “J. Annas has affirmed that the kind of contemporary ethical skepticism which denies the existence of objective moral values is essentially local, which means that it is based upon a worldview that is itself immune to skepticism. R. Bett, on the contrary, has objected that this is not a sine qua non for espousing that type of ethical skepticism. My purpose in this paper is to attempt to show that Bett’s argument does not succeed in proving that the skeptical position in question is not by nature local.”
3) “I believe that an analysis of this debate is still relevant, because it will allow us to identify definitively the exact theoretical underpinnings of the view that morality has no objective validity."
4) “Since it is Annas’ and Bett’s use, I shall employ the label ‘contemporary ethical skepticism’ to refer specifically to ontological ethical skepticism.”
5) “I shall begin by presenting Annas’ interpretation of the local character of contemporary ethical skepticism. Then, I shall expound Bett’s argument against it.”
6) “Taking Mackie’s ethical skepticism as the starting point of her argumentation, Annas claims that the denial of the existence of objective moral values is based on the idea that their existence would come into conflict with the certain knowledge one possesses in other areas. Within this frame, Annas refers to two common lines of argumentation put forward by contemporary ethical skepticism. The first refers to…”
7) “He points out that these skeptics regard science as a kind of knowledge that can explain much more efficaciously the facts which morality claims to account for.”
8) “Of course, epistemological ethical skepticism is implied by ontological ethical skepticism (but not the other way round). For, if there are no objective moral values, all moral judgments are false (Mackie’s ‘error theory’) and, hence, there can be no moral knowledge and no justified moral beliefs.”
10) “Other authors have followed Mackie in defining their ethical skepticism.”
11) “From the Pyrrhonean stance described in the previous section, contemporary ethical skepticism cannot be deemed an authentic form of skepticism, but rather a ‘dogmatic’ position.”
12) “The Pyrrhonist does not assert that each of the issues about which he suspends judgment is in itself undecidable, but, on the contrary, he continues to investigate the questions for which he has not as yet found any answer. Neither does he affirm that what he says is really as he says, but for example he makes it clear that when he employs the term ‘is’, it must be understood not in the sense of what is actually the case, but in the sense of ‘appears’”.
13) “More precisely, the Pyrrhonist finds a) an undecidable disagreement between ethical doctrines which have differing views about what the good, the bad, and the indifferent are, or about what things these notions apply to, and b) an undecidable disagreement between the doctrines which assert that things are good, bad, or indifferent by nature, and those that deny this.”
14) “In this section, I shall briefly describe the ethical skepticism found in Sextus Empiricus’ work.”
15) “On the other hand, it is possible that he retains the notion of an objective reality as coherent, but denies that…”
16) “Hence, once again, if the point of view which objectively describes the world were undermined, the contrast with morality would vanish and ethical skepticism would lose its foundation.”
17) “But, on the other, it may be argued that even though science has not been completely capable of providing an objective knowledge of reality, its method can ensure such knowledge to a greater extent than morality.”
18) “These facts determine that one cannot talk of progress or accumulation of knowledge, in contrast to what happens in other areas.”
Thank you in advance. Cheers, Sextus
1) “One of the views most commonly adopted by contemporary ethical skepticism is the one which denies that moral values or moral facts form part of the objective world. The most prominent defender of this view has been J. L. Mackie, who in his influential book Ethics defines his ethical skepticism as the negative stance which says…”
2) “J. Annas has affirmed that the kind of contemporary ethical skepticism which denies the existence of objective moral values is essentially local, which means that it is based upon a worldview that is itself immune to skepticism. R. Bett, on the contrary, has objected that this is not a sine qua non for espousing that type of ethical skepticism. My purpose in this paper is to attempt to show that Bett’s argument does not succeed in proving that the skeptical position in question is not by nature local.”
3) “I believe that an analysis of this debate is still relevant, because it will allow us to identify definitively the exact theoretical underpinnings of the view that morality has no objective validity."
4) “Since it is Annas’ and Bett’s use, I shall employ the label ‘contemporary ethical skepticism’ to refer specifically to ontological ethical skepticism.”
5) “I shall begin by presenting Annas’ interpretation of the local character of contemporary ethical skepticism. Then, I shall expound Bett’s argument against it.”
6) “Taking Mackie’s ethical skepticism as the starting point of her argumentation, Annas claims that the denial of the existence of objective moral values is based on the idea that their existence would come into conflict with the certain knowledge one possesses in other areas. Within this frame, Annas refers to two common lines of argumentation put forward by contemporary ethical skepticism. The first refers to…”
7) “He points out that these skeptics regard science as a kind of knowledge that can explain much more efficaciously the facts which morality claims to account for.”
8) “Of course, epistemological ethical skepticism is implied by ontological ethical skepticism (but not the other way round). For, if there are no objective moral values, all moral judgments are false (Mackie’s ‘error theory’) and, hence, there can be no moral knowledge and no justified moral beliefs.”
10) “Other authors have followed Mackie in defining their ethical skepticism.”
11) “From the Pyrrhonean stance described in the previous section, contemporary ethical skepticism cannot be deemed an authentic form of skepticism, but rather a ‘dogmatic’ position.”
12) “The Pyrrhonist does not assert that each of the issues about which he suspends judgment is in itself undecidable, but, on the contrary, he continues to investigate the questions for which he has not as yet found any answer. Neither does he affirm that what he says is really as he says, but for example he makes it clear that when he employs the term ‘is’, it must be understood not in the sense of what is actually the case, but in the sense of ‘appears’”.
13) “More precisely, the Pyrrhonist finds a) an undecidable disagreement between ethical doctrines which have differing views about what the good, the bad, and the indifferent are, or about what things these notions apply to, and b) an undecidable disagreement between the doctrines which assert that things are good, bad, or indifferent by nature, and those that deny this.”
14) “In this section, I shall briefly describe the ethical skepticism found in Sextus Empiricus’ work.”
15) “On the other hand, it is possible that he retains the notion of an objective reality as coherent, but denies that…”
16) “Hence, once again, if the point of view which objectively describes the world were undermined, the contrast with morality would vanish and ethical skepticism would lose its foundation.”
17) “But, on the other, it may be argued that even though science has not been completely capable of providing an objective knowledge of reality, its method can ensure such knowledge to a greater extent than morality.”
18) “These facts determine that one cannot talk of progress or accumulation of knowledge, in contrast to what happens in other areas.”
Thank you in advance. Cheers, Sextus
Top answer
Congratulations! Very good news indeed. Hmm.
- Congratulations!
- Very good news indeed.
- Hmm.
- The referee must have a short attention span.
- Will consider and re-post.
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8 Answers
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Congratulations! Very good news indeed.
Hmm. The referee must have a short attention span. Will consider and re-post.
Have you seen our new Spanish forum, by the way?
See you later,
MrP
Hmm. The referee must have a short attention span. Will consider and re-post.
Have you seen our new Spanish forum, by the way?
See you later,
MrP
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Hi MrP.
Actually, I've tried to improve the style in general. And some of the sentences are rewritten taking into account the referee's remarks (for him, they make sense, but they were hard to read or follow).
And yes, I took a look at the Spanish forum and tried to post, but then I realized I had to register there too. Perhaps I'll do it later.
All best,
Sextus
Actually, I've tried to improve the style in general. And some of the sentences are rewritten taking into account the referee's remarks (for him, they make sense, but they were hard to read or follow).
And yes, I took a look at the Spanish forum and tried to post, but then I realized I had to register there too. Perhaps I'll do it later.
All best,
Sextus
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Hello Sextus
Here are my efforts:
1) "It is a commonplace of contemporary ethical skepticism that moral values and moral facts do not form part of the objective world. The leading proponent of this view is J. L. Mackie, who in his influential book Ethics defines his ethical skepticism as the negative stance which says…"
2) "J. Annas has affirmed that the kind of contempo
Here are my efforts:
1) "It is a commonplace of contemporary ethical skepticism that moral values and moral facts do not form part of the objective world. The leading proponent of this view is J. L. Mackie, who in his influential book Ethics defines his ethical skepticism as the negative stance which says…"
2) "J. Annas has affirmed that the kind of contempo
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Hi MrP. Many thanks for your "efforts". I rephrased some of the sentences.
1) "One of the most common forms [versions?] of contemporary ethical skepticism denies that moral values or moral facts form part of the objective world. The leading proponent of this view is J. L. Mackie, who defines his ethical skepticism as..."
Here I had wrote “has been J. L. Mackie” because the book I
1) "One of the most common forms [versions?] of contemporary ethical skepticism denies that moral values or moral facts form part of the objective world. The leading proponent of this view is J. L. Mackie, who defines his ethical skepticism as..."
Here I had wrote “has been J. L. Mackie” because the book I
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Hello Sextus
1) Yes, "forms" is fine. To avoid repeating it, you could say "are part".
2) Fine!
3) I would omit "I hope" and add "that is" after "view".
8) Fine - yes, italics usually for vice versa.
10) Fine.
12) Yes, fine!
15) Fine!
14) Yes, that sounds fine.
16) I would probably say "described", on second thoughts,
1) Yes, "forms" is fine. To avoid repeating it, you could say "are part".
2) Fine!
3) I would omit "I hope" and add "that is" after "view".
8) Fine - yes, italics usually for vice versa.
10) Fine.
12) Yes, fine!
15) Fine!
14) Yes, that sounds fine.
16) I would probably say "described", on second thoughts,
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Hello again Sextus
a) “To accomplish this, it will be useful to consider the Pyrrhonean attitude towards morality as expounded in Sextus Empiricus’ work.”
b) "...in contrast to what happens in other areas.” ] I'm not sure how this last part fits.
c) Fine.
d) Fine; but it took a number of readings to grasp.
e) Fine, though difficult out of context.
a) “To accomplish this, it will be useful to consider the Pyrrhonean attitude towards morality as expounded in Sextus Empiricus’ work.”
b) "...in contrast to what happens in other areas.” ] I'm not sure how this last part fits.
c) Fine.
d) Fine; but it took a number of readings to grasp.
e) Fine, though difficult out of context.
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Hello MrP. Many thanks for your suggestions, which were very useful. I have changed several things in some of my sentences, so as to make them more intelligible:
1) “He makes it clear that when he employs the term ‘is’ (esti), for instance, it must be understood not in the sense of ‘really is’, but in the sense of ‘appears’ (phainetai). Thus, if he says ‘I think pity is good
1) “He makes it clear that when he employs the term ‘is’ (esti), for instance, it must be understood not in the sense of ‘really is’, but in the sense of ‘appears’ (phainetai). Thus, if he says ‘I think pity is good
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Hello Sextus
1) Very clear!
2) Oddly enough, I would probably keep the comma after "next".
3) "Describes" and "described" are both fine; "describes" for the reason you give, and "described" as a kind of "courtesy hypothetical", for the sake of consonance. I would usually choose the latter; but many native speakers are uncomfortable with this usage.
4) Maybe: "
1) Very clear!
2) Oddly enough, I would probably keep the comma after "next".
3) "Describes" and "described" are both fine; "describes" for the reason you give, and "described" as a kind of "courtesy hypothetical", for the sake of consonance. I would usually choose the latter; but many native speakers are uncomfortable with this usage.
4) Maybe: "
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