Principia Meta-Ethica

Metaethics is the study of moral language, moral ontology, and moral epistemology. This book addresses each of these in a way accessible to both students and professional philosophers.

Van Reken defends the classic view of moral realism, advanced by philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Kant.

Moral language tends to be the focus of much current metaethical discussion, but this volume concerns itself more with questions of moral ontology and moral epistemology. The concept of the moral field is introduced, which helps distinguish what is moral and what is amoral (a discussion too often overlooked by moralists), and--adapting an epistemological theory developed by Alvin Plantinga--an argument is made that we can know moral truths.

Principia Meta-Ethica presents a return to the core issues of metaethics and strengthens the case for moral realism with new arguments, distinctions, and concepts.

""In this important book, Calvin Van Reken issues a call for ethicists to return to the exploration of a moral order that holds for all human beings in all times and places. Such an order, he rightly insists, is not of our own making--it is to be discovered by us. Having issued the call, Van Reken develops a compelling case for how to respond to it successfully.""
--Richard J. Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary

""Van Reken's book is a significant achievement--a clear, thorough, cogent, and readily accessible defense of classical moral realism in an age of moral constructivism and relativism. One of its strengths is that although his conclusions comport well with Christian and other religious views of ethics, his analysis and arguments are philosophical and not dependent on distinctly religious assumptions. This book merits consideration by all who are interested in metaethics.""
--John W. Cooper, Professor of Philosophical Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary

""Principia Meta-Ethica is a welcome book for our times. Van Reken's case for classic moral realism provides clarifying discussions of the moral order, the moral field, warranted moral belief, and the grounding of morality. In a clear-thinking analytic style, he proposes an ambitious metaethical theory encompassing both teleology and deontology. This should provoke important discussions, especially among those who may still consider themselves rivals.""
--Anne Poortenga, coauthor, The Story of Ethics: Fulfilling Our Human Nature; cofounder, Trinitas Classical School, Grand Rapids, Michigan


Calvin P. Van Reken is the Professor of Moral Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary and a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago.