NDLI: Desire, Judgment, and Reason: Exploring the Path not Taken

Please wait, while we are loading the content...

Desire, Judgment, and Reason: Exploring the Path not Taken

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Hurley, Paul
Copyright Year	2007
Abstract	At the outset of The Possibility of Altruism Thomas Nagel charts two paths out of the fundamental dilemma confronting metaethics. The first path rejects the claim that a persuasive account of the motivational backing of ethical judgments must involve an agent’s desires. But it is the second path, a path that Nagel charts but does not himself take, that is the focus of this essay. This path retains the standard account, upon which all motivation involves desire, but denies that desires are given prior to reason. Instead, these attitudes that motivate are themselves open to rational assessment. One reason for this focus is that many philosophers, including Quinn, Raz, and Scanlon, have come to reject the claim Nagel takes to block this path – that desires are somehow given prior to reason, hence are not in the relevant way proper objects of rational assessment. A second reason is that unlike the first path, this second does not require the rejection of the belief-desire theory, only the rejection of one assumption about the nature of conative attitudes. Unlike Nagel’s chosen path, then, the second holds out the prospect of reconciling ethical objectivity, internalism, and the belief-desire theory within a unified account. I argue that the account of desire found in Quinn, Raz, and Scanlon, augmented by aspects of Davidson’s account of propositional attitudes, yields a coherent account of the involvement of reason even in basic desires, an account that is well suited to Nagel’s intriguing path not taken.
Starting Page	437
Ending Page	463
Page Count	27
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13824554
Journal	The Journal of Ethics
Volume Number	11
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	15728609
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2007-01-12
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	belief-desire theory desire ethical objectivity inconsistent triad internalism judgment-sensitive attitudes propositional attitudes Philosophy Political Philosophy Ethics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

A Davidsonian Reconciliation of Internalism, Objectivity, and the Belief-desire Theory

Restrictive Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes

Invertebrate Minds: A Challenge for Ethical Theory

Clearing conceptual space for cognitivist motivational internalism

Metaethical Internalism: Another Neglected Distinction

Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason

Public Reason, Objectivity, and Journalism in Liberal Democratic Societies

Suspended judgment

Because She Wanted To

Desire, Judgment, and Reason: Exploring the Path not Taken

Similar Documents

A Davidsonian Reconciliation of Internalism, Objectivity, and the Belief-desire Theory

Restrictive Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes

Invertebrate Minds: A Challenge for Ethical Theory

Clearing conceptual space for cognitivist motivational internalism

Metaethical Internalism: Another Neglected Distinction

Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason

Public Reason, Objectivity, and Journalism in Liberal Democratic Societies

Suspended judgment

Because She Wanted To

Desire, Judgment, and Reason: Exploring the Path not Taken