Moral particularism

Moral particularism is the view that moral judgment need not depend on general principles that apply uniformly across cases. It emphasizes how a feature’s moral significance can vary with its context.

Moral reason: A consideration that counts in favor of or against an action or judgment. Particularists examine how a consideration’s status as a reason can shift between cases.
Moral generalism: The view that moral thought requires general principles that apply across multiple cases. It is the direct rival thesis about whether moral principles are necessary.
Aristotle: An ancient Greek philosopher whose works shaped Western ethics, metaphysics, and political thought. His account of practical wisdom and attention to particulars became an important precursor to particularist ethics.
Moral dilemma: A situation in which moral requirements or values appear to conflict. Dilemmas expose how particularists assess competing considerations without assuming a universal ranking.
Reason holism: The view that a feature counting as a reason in one case need not count as one in another. It captures the context-dependence of reasons central to particularist ethics.
Principlism: An approach to moral reasoning that relies on a set of general principles. Principlists treat principles as tools for judgment, unlike strong particularists.
W. D. Ross: A British philosopher known for pluralistic duties and the idea of prima facie obligations. His irreducible duties prompted debate over whether general principles can settle particular conflicts.
Moral luck: The influence of factors outside an agent’s control on moral judgment of that agent or their actions. It tests how circumstances can alter moral assessment even when intentions remain similar.
Moral salience: The capacity of a feature to matter morally in a particular situation. Particularist judgment attends to which features matter in each case.
Consequentialism: The family of ethical theories that assesses actions by the value of their consequences. Its general criterion illustrates how a moral theory can aim to govern cases uniformly.

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