Defending Fundamental Requirements of Practical Reason: A Constitutivist Framework
Author
Summary, in English
Abstract in Undetermined
In this paper I offer a partial defense of a constitutivist view according to which it is possible to defend fundamental requirements of practical reason by appeal to facts about what is constitutive of rational agency. I show how it is possible for that approach to circumvent the 'is'/'ought' problem as well as the requirement that it be possible to act contrary to practical reason. But I do not attempt to establish any particular fundamental requirement. The key ideas are that such a requirement is not genuine if it is arbitrary, and that it is arbitrary just in case (a) it needs explanation and (b) that explanation could not, even in principle, be provided.
In this paper I offer a partial defense of a constitutivist view according to which it is possible to defend fundamental requirements of practical reason by appeal to facts about what is constitutive of rational agency. I show how it is possible for that approach to circumvent the 'is'/'ought' problem as well as the requirement that it be possible to act contrary to practical reason. But I do not attempt to establish any particular fundamental requirement. The key ideas are that such a requirement is not genuine if it is arbitrary, and that it is arbitrary just in case (a) it needs explanation and (b) that explanation could not, even in principle, be provided.
Department/s
Publishing year
2011
Language
English
Pages
77-102
Publication/Series
Journal of Philosophical Research
Volume
36
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Philosophy Documentation Center
Topic
- Philosophy
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1053-8364