I'd say that all questions of "good" are philosophically underpinned, so ethics is always preceded by some philosophy, whether or not "philosophers" are around

I'd say that all questions of "good" are philosophically underpinned, so ethics is always preceded by some philosophy, whether or not "philosophers" are around or not. The article already begins by proposing that since ethics appears early in the life of a culture, without philosophers, their contribution of theory is unnecessary. This claim already builds a theory of what constitutes "good" contributions, which is a philosophical theory.