Christine M. Korsgaard presents an account of the foundation of
practical reason and moral obligation. Moral philosophy aspires to
understand the fact that human actions, unlike the actions of the
other animals, can be morally good or bad, right or wrong. Few moral
philosophers, however, have exploited the idea that actions might be
morally good or bad in virtue of being good or bad of their kind -
good or bad as actions. Just as we need to know that it is the
function of the heart to pump blood to know that a good heart is one
that pumps blood successfully, so we need to know what the function of
an action is in order to know what counts as a good or bad action.
Drawing on the work of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant, Korsgaard proposes
that the function of an action is to constitute the agency and
therefore the identity of the person who does it. As rational beings,
we are aware of, and therefore in control of, the principles that
govern our actions. A good action is one that constitutes its agent as
the autonomous and efficacious cause of her own movements. These
properties correspond, respectively, to Kant's two imperatives of
practical reason. Conformity to the categorical imperative renders us
autonomous, and conformity to the hypothetical imperative renders us
efficacious. And in determining what effects we will have in the
world, we are at the same time determining our own identities.
Korsgaard develops a theory of action and of interaction, and of the
form interaction must take if we are to have the integrity that, she
argues, is essential for agency. On the basis of that theory, she
argues that only morally good action can serve the function of action,
which is self-constitution.
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Agency, Identity, and Integrity
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780191567827
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter