Reasons for Action : Toward a Normative Theory and Meta-Level Criteria /

What, ultimately, is there good reason to do? This book proposes a unified theory of agent-dependent reasons and agent-independent reasons. It holds that principles which assign reasons to agents are valid if and only if they make maximally good sense in the light of relevant data and background the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Postow, B. C.
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands, 1999.
Series:Library of ethics and applied philosophy ; 4.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:What, ultimately, is there good reason to do? This book proposes a unified theory of agent-dependent reasons and agent-independent reasons. It holds that principles which assign reasons to agents are valid if and only if they make maximally good sense in the light of relevant data and background theories. The theory avoids problems encountered by views associated with Nagel, Parfit, Brandt, Hubin, Gert, Baier, and Tiberius, amongst others. By what criteria should a normative theory of ultimate reasons be judged? Plausible meta-level criteria emerge from a process of identifying the criteria that have been used, sometimes unwittingly, by various theorists; categorizing and evaluating the criteria in the light of each other; and proposing revisions on that basis. This method escapes the drawbacks of rival approaches, such as those associated with Parfit, Gert, and Darwall. The resulting criteria cast a favorable light on the proposed normative theory of ultimate reasons.
Item Description:Electronic resource.
Physical Description:1 online resource (x, 205 pages)
ISBN:9789401728508 (electronic bk.)
940172850X (electronic bk.)
ISSN:1387-6678 ;