In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?

[agora]

"Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror. Rejecting the enterprise is natural enough, especially when things are comfortable. After all, we do not like being told what to do, and become especially defensive when we are bent on behaving badly. We want to enjoy our lives, and we want to enjoy them with a good conscience. People who disturb that equilibrium are uncomfortable, so moralists and critics are often uninvited guests at the feast, and we have a multitude of defences against them. Analogously, some individuals can insulate themselves from a poor physical environment, for a time. They may profit by creating one. The owner can live upwind of his chemical factory, and the logger may know that the trees will not give out until after he is dead. Similarly, individuals can insulate themselves from a poor moral environment, or profit from it. Just as weeds flourish at the expense of other plants, so do some people. Those of us who do not like a fight can be exploited by others. The litter lout or the fly-tipper gets away with it because most observers would be frightened of intervening, while to as much as toot your horn at another motorist can risk a trip to hospital." (Simon Blacburn / Ethics; p:4)

“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

[agora]

Here is the previous paragraph:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate. But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition. The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us. It is to understand the networks of rules or 'norms' that sustain our lives. The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do, although some philosophers take a different tack, and tell us not only to put up with the jumble, but to celebrate it. Either way, it involves the hope of increased self-knowledge. Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it. Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate. But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

[FlashDangerpants]

“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

Neither of those, think of an enterprise as an undertaking, usually but not necessarily shared. So a group of mountain climbers may engage in an enterprise to climb the north face of the Eiger. Or in this case philosophers are engaging in an enterprise to make sense of our moral intuitions and institutions. Good luck to them I say.

[Impenitent]

Flash is right to a point, but if you have to choose one of the two, the second works...

the Enterprise was fine, but Captain Kirk was a scoundrel at times...

-Imp

[accelafine]

In no sense that makes any sense.

[Wild Reiver]

Not to comment directly on any possibly implied branching enterprises, I think it may be good tentatively to hold to the idea that Ethics is a philosophical umbrella term signifying myriad enterprises. I think that often it is good to clearly distinguish between that major area of philosophy called Ethics, and morality. Within Ethics there may be many enterprises which interrogate those enterprises which seek to find 'complete' systems or categorisations, for instance. It seems to me that the Blackburn words refer to one way of looking at a strand (or aa strand of a strand) so to fully engage we'd need to try and locate them in relation to their contextual neighbours.

Ethics as a philosophical mega-enterprise parallels morality both in its 'jumbleness' and its multiple connections with such areas as aesthetics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and so on.

[FlashDangerpants]

I think that often it is good to clearly distinguish between that major area of philosophy called Ethics, and morality.

The vast majority of philosophers reject that notion and I'm fairly sure I could grab a quote from Blackburn explicitly saying as much.

[Wild Reiver]

Well, I think he, like many philosophers, thinks Ethics can be (or, more insistently, should be) a help to a person's negotiating their own moral life. I agree with him on this.

I don't think that contradicts what I was trying to say. It is possible that some would disagree - with him, you, me - on this and other views. There are many entrepeneurs of philosophical enterprise jumbling about morality, and I consider all, frequently conflicting, viewpoints are contained under the umbrella concept of Ethics.

But point taken.

[Walker]

Flash is right to a point, but if you have to choose one of the two, the second works...

the Enterprise was fine, but Captain Kirk was a scoundrel at times...

-Imp

Yes, The Enterprise is the literal manifestation of an enterprise that took form as a star ship through systematic action by one or more life forms. The purpose of that enterprise is to create conditions for a predetermined situation to manifest. The situation is an expanded reach of The Federation and its values throughout the universe.

Kirk is a crucial element required for creating that condition. Kirk is the human manifestation of that enterprise and as such, because his societal position of captain makes him literally one from many (E pluribus unum), due to the creativity required to continue survival of The Enterprise for the purpose of the enterprise, his actions when life is on the line often appear scoundrelous and even unreasonable to some of the many, but not to the centralized authority that appointed him.

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGmhvx1elk

In his prime, Kirk was probably a role model for enterprising, future automotive and space engineers.

[Impenitent]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiwgOWo7mDc

"Everyone's a Captain Kirk"

-Imp

[FlashDangerpants]

Well, I think he, like many philosophers, thinks Ethics can be (or, more insistently, should be) a help to a person's negotiating their own moral life. I agree with him on this.

I don't think that contradicts what I was trying to say. It is possible that some would disagree - with him, you, me - on this and other views. There are many entrepeneurs of philosophical enterprise jumbling about morality, and I consider all, frequently conflicting, viewpoints are contained under the umbrella concept of Ethics.

But point taken.

Can't argue that, Blackburn himself has been trying to do a particularly unfashionable thing. I still don't know for sure whether I disagree with it at the most fundamental level or just don't understand. Yet he's still one my favourite moral philosophers.

[Veritas Aequitas]

"Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror.
...
“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

Not sure if yours is a different edition,
what I noted from the prior paragraph is this:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate.
But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition.
The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us.
It is to understand the networks of rules or ‘norms’ that sustain our lives.
The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do.
It is an enterprise of self-knowledge.
Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it.
Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate.
But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

So the 'enterprise' refer the above in reference to

"Perhaps fewer of us are sensitive to what we might call the moral or ethical environment.
This is the surrounding climate of ideas about how to live."

But note:

"An ethical climate is a different thing from a moralistic one." page3.

also, morality is not about how we live but;

"The core of morality, then, lies not in what we do, but in our motives in doing it: ‘When moral worth is at issue, what counts is not actions, which one sees, but those inner principles of action that one does not see.’" page 102

It is in the Book 'Ethics' where Blackburn misunderstood the nuance of Kant's morality where he [Blackburn] as with the majority, understand that Kant insisted one must not lie even to save a life absolutely. Kant was not dogmatic about it absolutely.

[agora]

"Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror.
...
“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

Not sure if yours is a different edition,
what I noted from the prior paragraph is this:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate.
But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition.
The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us.
It is to understand the networks of rules or ‘norms’ that sustain our lives.
The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do.
It is an enterprise of self-knowledge.
Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it.
Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate.
But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

So the 'enterprise' refer the above in reference to

"Perhaps fewer of us are sensitive to what we might call the moral or ethical environment.
This is the surrounding climate of ideas about how to live."

But note:

"An ethical climate is a different thing from a moralistic one." page3.

also, morality is not about how we live but;

"The core of morality, then, lies not in what we do, but in our motives in doing it: ‘When moral worth is at issue, what counts is not actions, which one sees, but those inner principles of action that one does not see.’" page 102

It is in the Book 'Ethics' where Blackburn misunderstood the nuance of Kant's morality where he [Blackburn] as with the majority, understand that Kant insisted one must not lie even to save a life absolutely. Kant was not dogmatic about it absolutely.

Are you able to see that the enterprise referred to in the second paragraph of the text I shared corresponds to what is discussed in the preceding paragraph?

Here are those paragraphs:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate.
But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition.
The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us.
It is to understand the networks of rules or 'norms' that sustain our lives.
The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do, although some philosophers take a different tack, and tell us not only to put up with the jumble, but to celebrate it.
Either way, it involves the hope of increased self-knowledge.
Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it.
Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate.
But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror. Rejecting the enterprise is natural enough, especially when things are comfortable. After all, we do not like being told what to do, and become especially defensive when we are bent on behaving badly. We want to enjoy our lives, and we want to enjoy them with a good conscience. People who disturb that equilibrium are uncomfortable, so moralists and critics are often uninvited guests at the feast, and we have a multitude of defences against them. Analogously, some individuals can insulate themselves from a poor physical environment, for a time. They may profit by creating one. The owner can live upwind of his chemical factory, and the logger may know that the trees will not give out until after he is dead. Similarly, individuals can insulate themselves from a poor moral environment, or profit from it. Just as weeds flourish at the expense of other plants, so do some people. Those of us who do not like a fight can be exploited by others. The litter lout or the fly-tipper gets away with it because most observers would be frightened of intervening, while to as much as toot your horn at another motorist can risk a trip to hospital.



OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS


Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

Simon Blackburn 2021

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

First published as an Oxford University Press Hardback 2001

First published as an Oxford University Press Paperback 2002

First published as a Very Short Introduction 2003

This edition published 2021

Impression: 4

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945713

ISBN 978-0-19-886810-1

Printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire

[Age]

"Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror. Rejecting the enterprise is natural enough, especially when things are comfortable. After all, we do not like being told what to do, and become especially defensive when we are bent on behaving badly. We want to enjoy our lives, and we want to enjoy them with a good conscience. People who disturb that equilibrium are uncomfortable, so moralists and critics are often uninvited guests at the feast, and we have a multitude of defences against them. Analogously, some individuals can insulate themselves from a poor physical environment, for a time. They may profit by creating one. The owner can live upwind of his chemical factory, and the logger may know that the trees will not give out until after he is dead. Similarly, individuals can insulate themselves from a poor moral environment, or profit from it. Just as weeds flourish at the expense of other plants, so do some people. Those of us who do not like a fight can be exploited by others. The litter lout or the fly-tipper gets away with it because most observers would be frightened of intervening, while to as much as toot your horn at another motorist can risk a trip to hospital." (Simon Blacburn / Ethics; p:4)

“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

Firstly, there is only one who knows, for sure, in which sense the word 'enterprise' is used, in 'that sentence'. So, I suggest you ask 'that one'.

Secondly, if you can not find 'that one' to ask, then in 'which sense' the 'enterprise' word is being used, is up to absolutely any and/or every one else.

If you can not find 'the one' who used 'that, or any other, word', to ask what is and was the actual intended meaning, and/or in what sense, exactly, then absolutely no one else would know, for sure.

[Veritas Aequitas]

"Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror.
...
“In this sentence, in what sense is the word enterprise used?”
• Is it in the sense of a company, organization, or business,
• or in the sense of the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work?

Not sure if yours is a different edition,
what I noted from the prior paragraph is this:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate.
But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition.
The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us.
It is to understand the networks of rules or ‘norms’ that sustain our lives.
The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do.
It is an enterprise of self-knowledge.
Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it.
Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate.
But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

So the 'enterprise' refer the above in reference to

"Perhaps fewer of us are sensitive to what we might call the moral or ethical environment.
This is the surrounding climate of ideas about how to live."

But note:

"An ethical climate is a different thing from a moralistic one." page3.

also, morality is not about how we live but;

"The core of morality, then, lies not in what we do, but in our motives in doing it: ‘When moral worth is at issue, what counts is not actions, which one sees, but those inner principles of action that one does not see.’" page 102

It is in the Book 'Ethics' where Blackburn misunderstood the nuance of Kant's morality where he [Blackburn] as with the majority, understand that Kant insisted one must not lie even to save a life absolutely. Kant was not dogmatic about it absolutely.

Are you able to see that the enterprise referred to in the second paragraph of the text I shared corresponds to what is discussed in the preceding paragraph?

Here are those paragraphs:

Philosophy is certainly not alone in its engagement with the ethical climate.
But its reflections contain a distinctive ambition.
The ambition is to understand the springs of motivation, reason, and feeling that move us.
It is to understand the networks of rules or 'norms' that sustain our lives.
The ambition is often one of finding system in the apparent jumble of principles and goals that we respect, or say we do, although some philosophers take a different tack, and tell us not only to put up with the jumble, but to celebrate it.
Either way, it involves the hope of increased self-knowledge.
Of course, philosophers do not escape the climate, even as they reflect on it.
Any story about human nature in the contemporary climate is a result of human nature and the contemporary climate.
But such stories may be better or worse, for all that.

Admiring the enterprise, aspiring to it, and even tolerating it, are themselves moral stances. They can themselves flourish or wither at different times, depending on how much we like what we see in the mirror. Rejecting the enterprise is natural enough, especially when things are comfortable. After all, we do not like being told what to do, and become especially defensive when we are bent on behaving badly. We want to enjoy our lives, and we want to enjoy them with a good conscience. People who disturb that equilibrium are uncomfortable, so moralists and critics are often uninvited guests at the feast, and we have a multitude of defences against them. Analogously, some individuals can insulate themselves from a poor physical environment, for a time. They may profit by creating one. The owner can live upwind of his chemical factory, and the logger may know that the trees will not give out until after he is dead. Similarly, individuals can insulate themselves from a poor moral environment, or profit from it. Just as weeds flourish at the expense of other plants, so do some people. Those of us who do not like a fight can be exploited by others. The litter lout or the fly-tipper gets away with it because most observers would be frightened of intervening, while to as much as toot your horn at another motorist can risk a trip to hospital.



OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS


Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

Simon Blackburn 2021

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

First published as an Oxford University Press Hardback 2001

First published as an Oxford University Press Paperback 2002

First published as a Very Short Introduction 2003

This edition published 2021

Impression: 4

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945713

ISBN 978-0-19-886810-1

Printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire

Your version:
Either way, it involves the hope of increased self-knowledge.

Mine:
It is an enterprise of self-knowledge.

Looks like there is some editing to make the "it" more specific with the term "enterprise" that followed later.