Is it rational to be moral? How do rationality and morality fit together with being human? These questions are at the heart of David Schmidtz's exploration of the connections between rationality and morality. This inquiry leads into both metaethics and rational choice theory, as Schmidtz develops conceptions of what it is to be moral and what it is to be rational. He defends a fairly expansive conception of rational choice, considering how ends as well as means can be rationally chosen and explaining the role of self-imposed constraints in a rational life plan. His moral theory is dualistic, ranging over social structure as well as personal conduct and building both individual and collective rationality into its rules of recognition for morals. To the "why be moral" question, Schmidtz responds that being moral is rational, but he does not assume we have reasons to be rational. Instead, Schmidtz argues that being moral is rational in a particular way and that beings like us in situations like ours have reasons to be rational in just that way. This approach allows him to identify decisive reasons to be moral; at the same time, it explains why immorality is as prevalent as it is. This book thus offers a set of interesting and realistic conclusions about how morality fits into the lives of humanly rational agents operating in an institutional context like our own.
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A compelling, commonsensical look at a difficult issue. . . . The book is clearly written. . . . It avoids obscurity and technical terminology so as to render it intelligible even to those unfamiliar with the issues.
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THIS BOOK EXPLORES CONNECTIONS between rationality and morality. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THIS BOOK EXPLORES CONNECTIONS between rationality and morality. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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- Satisficing and Maximizing: Moral Theorists on Practical Reason by Michael Byron on 8 pages
- Practical Rules: When We Need Them and When We Don't (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) by Alan H. Goldman on 4 pages
- Rational Games: A Philosophy of Business Negotiation from Practical Reason by Mark Young on page 178, page 179, and Back Matter
- Ethics and Narrative in the English Novel, 1880-1914 by Jil Larson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Modeling Rationality, Morality, and Evolution (Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science) by Peter Danielson in Front Matter, and page 281
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