The Retrieval of Ethics By T albot B rewer
Abstract
book reviews | 193 a way of not acting; it need not involve acting at all. Of course, refraining when one is tempted is difficult; but why? Further, if the exercise of willpower requires skill, what characterization of the skill can be given? Are there steps, or techniques, or tricks that one can learn? And while Holton mentions that repeatedly exercising willpower can increase oneâs stamina, we are not told what, if anything, can increase the power of oneâs will. There is, I think, more to be said on these points. But Holtonâs book provides a fascinating beginning. RANDOLPH CLARKE Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA rkclarke@fsu.edu The Retrieval of Ethics By TALBOT BREWER OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009. VIII þ 344 PP. £40.00. While Anscombe (1958) famously argues that we should stop doing moral philosophy until we have a more adequate philosophical psychology, Talbot Brewer goes much further. He argues that contemporary moral theory rests on false assumptions about philosophical psychology, that there is a more adequate alternative to be retrieved from the Ancients, and that in retrieving this alternative we will be led to reject contemporary dogmas about a wide variety of philosophic topics: desire, pleasure,