ABSTRACT
Constitutive theory sets out to show how we are constituted as ethical beings in a hierarchy of practices where each superior practice may be seen to have solved the shortcomings of the subordinate ones.1 Constitutive theory does not claim that the subsequent practices are the result of conscious ethical problem-solving activity in the prior practices. It also does not claim that the subordinate practices had built into them a teleological logic which inevitably leads to the emergence of the superior practices. The claim made by constitutive theory is merely that with hindsight we can discern what contribution to our current ethical standing is made by the different practices within which we participate and how certain problems in the subordinate practices were solved in the superior ones. Constitutive theory is a practical example of philosophy painting its grey upon grey after the dusk has fallen and the owl of Minerva has flown.
