Moral Sainthood Argumentative Analysis

This essay will focus on Susan Wolf’s attack on deontic moral theories. She argues that we cannot accept deontic theories as they prescribe moral sainthood. For Wolf, this is an undesirable model of life that is unrealistic to strive for. I will put pressure on the third premise of her argument. Arguing that she makes an inductive leap from her opinion, that the moral saint’s life is undesirable, to the theory that prescribes it can’t be accepted.

For Wolf, deontic moral theories promote a model of perfection that is not good for our well- being to aim for. I have interpreted her argument as follow:

(1) Moral sainthood is an undesirable model of life to aim for.
(2) Deontic theories endorse sainthood as the model way of life.
(3) We can’t accept moral theories that endorse this undesirable kind of life. Therefore, we can’t accept …show more content…
The life of the moral saint, on this interpretation appears to be worse than someone who has cultivated these non- moral characteristics. This is based on a subjective experience of what a fulfilled life is. People may find certain models of life undesirable as it conflicts with their understanding of a desirable. For example, the life ideals of Amish community’s conflicts with Western culture’s. We could see their life as boring and we do not desire it. This doesn’t mean the theory mandating it is wrong. It is just a matter of opinion. By claiming that the moral saint’s model of life is undesirable Wolf is propagating her opinion, that she dislikes this life ideal. It is not necessarily the case the theory is wrong. This is a fatal flaw in her argument, (3) makes an inductive leap from her opinion to a conclusion that the theory is wrong. We should withhold from rejecting a theory just because people don’t like the ideal prescribes. Though this could be underestimating the influence of popular