Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision

ISBN-13: 9780415364638 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 264 str.

Robert Audi

Opis

What role does reason play in our actions? How do we know whether what we do is right? Can practical reasoning guide ethical judgment?
"Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision "presents an account of practical reasoning as a process that can explain action, connect reasoning with intention, justify practical judgments, and provide a basis for ethical decisions.
The first part of the book is a detailed critical overview of the influential theories of practical reasoning found in Aristotle, Hume, and Kant. The second part examines practical reasoning in the light of important topics in moral psychology-weakness of will, self-deception, rationalization, and others. In the third part, Audi describes the role of moral principles in practical reasoning and clarifies the way practical reasoning underlies ethical decisions. He formulates a comprehensive set of concrete ethical principles, explains how they apply to reasoning about what to do, and shows how practical reasoning guides moral conduct.
Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision provides the most comprehensive account of the topic in the current literature and is essential reading for anyone interested in the role of reason in ethics or the nature of human action.

Spis treści

PART I Historical and conceptual background: practical reasoning in Aristotle, Hume, and Kant 1 Aristotle on practical reasoning and the structure of action 12 Hume and the instrumentalist conception of practical reasoning 3 Kant and the autonomy of practical reason Part II Practical reasoning, practical arguments, and intentional action 4 The varieties and basic elements of practical reasoning 5 Practical reasoning and intentional action 6 Practical reasoning in the dynamics of action Part III Practical reasoning, ethical decision, and rational action 7 The assessment of practical reasoning 8 General principles of practical appraisal 9 Practical reasoning and moral judgment 10 Practical reasoning in ethical decisions 11 The rationality of action and the plurality of value

O autorze

Robert Audi is the David E.Gallo Chair in Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character (1997), The Architecture of Reason (2001), Epistemology (Routledge, 2003), The Good in the Right (2004), and many papers in ethics, moral psychology, and the philosophy of action.